5Days a Stranger
by MsVeine
Summary: Get in, get the loot, get out – that's how it usually goes for Kruger. But after she breaks into the supposedly vacated DeFoe Manor, she finds that things aren't that simple. Together with four other people, she finds herself imprisoned. AU and maybe OOC.
1. Chapter 1

So, here goes my second Fanfic.  
It is once again inspired by a game, as will it's followers. I love the Chzo Mythos Series made by Ben 'yahtzee' Croshaw, and I had a fleeting thought of making the Hime/Otome cast go through them. So here is the first chapter. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I neither own Sunrise's Mai Hime/Otome nor do I own the Chzo Mythos Series by Ben 'yahtzee' Croshaw.  
But I do really love both.

* * *

Day One - Easy Heist

* * *

_I used to have one. And a lot of people would like to know what it was. Some people call me 'Ice princess' and it suffices as a name. I have been called many things, a burglar, a hodlum, a criminal.. but I'd like to think of myself as a gentleman thief. And tonight I've got something potentially very rewarding in store; DeFoe Manor.  
My Fence - Yamada - phoned me in the middle of the night and informed me about it. Apperantly the last heir in the Bloodline of DeFoe had died without leaving heirs behind - thus leaving the manor and the family valuables behind. Perfect.  
The lawyers have got the place locked up tight, but to hell with it! Something like that never stopped me before, and it certainly won't stop me now. Plus the manor is deserted, so it definetly should be an easy call for someone like me._

"Right. I'll go in, take some stuff and get the hell out. Should be easy. It's an old house, so there certainly won't be an alarm when I jump in." I said to myself as I stopped on a little hill near the manor. I could see that big, old house.  
God Damnit, it looks big. Could take a while to find something worth the effort. Oh well, at least I've got something to do for the rest of the evening.  
I got out of my car, nothing special, it was just a blue one I once got from Yamada. _At least that guy knows what colour I like. _I snorted at that comment, and went to the trunk. _Hey, I 've got to get my things before I go in there, wouldn't want to be caught without my mask on, now would I?_ I grabbed my black Ski-Mask and pulled it over my head after I put my hair in a pony tail. Heh, maybe I should get a hair cut then I wouldn't have to worry about people catching a glimpse of them. Quite annoying to have such an unique haircolour. People easily recognize it, along with my eyes. Maybe I should get contacts to cover those up, but I doubt there'd be some which could rival my emerald eyes. Sometimes it's a curse to have those traits earned frommy mom. Like mother like daughter.  
I snorted as I thought about it. Hell, I should be getting in the Manor, not discuss my hair and my eyes with myself. I grabbed my grolly, closed the trunk and made my way to the manor.

Just a silent little walk, nothing special. Some trees with their leaves in many colours, from a pale yellow with some dots of brown to a quite beautiful, rich orange or sometimes even red. The little pebble-path I was following lead to the side of the manor, there weren't any doors, just two windows on the first floor, both closed and one on the second floor. Bingo. It was open. That's my entrance.  
_Remember my grolly? Yeah, I know.. "What in the world is a grolly?" You may ask.. well, here. Let me show my baby._  
With that thought, which I by the way found very funny - I mean, come on! What the heck am I doing? I think of myself as some kind of protagonist in some weird game! - I took my grolly in both hands and aimed at the window. One click and there flew the grappling hook straight through it. Ah.. I love it, it's so useful - and if it rains I can easily use it as an umbrella, since it was a special tool which Yamada gave to me. Maybe I have to thank him for my grolly once again.

Anyhow. I climbed up the rope from the grappling hook and jumped through the window which led to some kind of office room. Thats what it looked like, at least. In this odd, green room was a big, old, wooden desk with a big, black leather chair behind it, there were also some documents on the walls - persumably certificates. Right next to my left stood a wooden bookshelf with a safe built into it. I guess that's my big price. As I looked closer, I recognized it as an Armstrong14 steel safe. Heh. I can crack these in my sleep. I immediatly went to work on said safe, and within minutes I had it open, but to my dismay it was entirely empty.  
Well, apart from the little black widow that resided inside, it was empty. Ugh, spiders. I hate them. They remind me so much of an old aquaintance from highschool which I hated with a burning passion. I closed the safe again and glanced at the room once more. Hell, the walls were some kind of green which even reminded me of the eyecolour of said person I hated, even the carpet had the same shade of green. I guess, the owner liked green.  
Then I spotted a painting on the wall behind the desk, it was a rather dreadful portrait of a woman, early Victorian style and I noticed a wedding band on her finger. Must have been the wife of the mansion's first owner. The damn thing was unsigned, therefore valueless. I took another look at the documents on the walls. "Bachelor of Law, awarded to Tate DeFoe by the University of Warwick." _Hm.. Tate DeFoe was the last owner of the house, the one who recently died, and I think I have just lost whatever sympathy I had for him._

Well then, let's get back down and enter another room - why leave through the door? Through the window is my style. I turned around and tried opening the window again and again but it was no use. It was jammed shut. _Oh for fucks sake_. I guess then I do have to take the old-fashioned way out - through the door. I once again turned around, made my way to the door and turned the knob. I entered, and was immediatly attacked by the same shade of green. At least there was a wooden floor, not a green carpet.

"What? Oh.. no.. NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME! STAY AWAAAAAAAAAY!"  
_Huh? _I turned left, and there stood a girl, maybe 16 of age with bright, blue eyes and long brown hair that was tied in two ponytails which bobbed up and down with her when she moved her head. Strange. As she screamed, she ran away - holy hell, that girl was fast! I bet, if I wore a skirt, it would have flew away with her. I shook my head and asked myself what in the world got into her.  
Then I mentally facepalmed. I took of my Ski-Mask and put it in my pocket. _Damn, I keep forgetting I'm wearing this thing. But still.. who the hell was that? I thought the house was deserted! Damn you, Yamada, damn you. Oh well, at least now I can check the other rooms and maybe, I'll find another window. I'd like to know if I can get out of here without using the front door. _I looked around, seemed to be some kind of hallway. There were four other doors and a staircase, otherwise the hallway was pretty much empty. I made my way to the nearest door and tried prying it open. No such luck - locked. _Heh. Lockpicks, I love you. _I put my hand in my pockets and searched for my lockpicks, then I looked in my little secret stash I had at my tie. Yep, I wore a tie. Never tought I would, eh? Oh well, but luck left me the moment I set foot in this house, I forgot to take my lockpicks with me. How the hell am I supposed to loot this house, if I haven't got my lockpicks? Oh well.. door number one, you have to wait. I went to the second door and turned the knob - locked. I cursed under my breath as I trotted to the third door and tried opening it. It was too locked.

Curses.

"Oh well, seems like I won't be looting anything here today," I said as I trotted to the fourth and last door on this floor. I raised my hand, put it on the knob and turned - it opened! Fuck yes! I made a victory arm-pump and a lopsided grin grew on my face. I pulled open the door and went inside.

Double curses.

It was the bathroom. Well, so much for my victory arm-pump. The smile on my face was replaced with a scowl and I snorted at myself._ Geez. One door opens - and it just has to be the bathroom. Great. Really great._ Well, well, well.. the shower curtain was drawn. Maybe that girl with the strange hair hid behind it_. Reminds me of that movie I once saw - what was it called again? Hmm... oh well, nevermind._ I went to the shower and with one strong pull it was pulled back - nothing behind it. _How anti-climatic. _Meh, at least there's another window - maybe this one isn't jammed shut. I tried opening said window, but lo and behold! It was shut.  
I took another look at the bathroom, it looked nice and clean, there was a little, red rug in the middle of the tiled room and there hung a mirror above the sink. _Might as well sneek a peek at myself. _Said and done, I trotted to the mirror and looked at myself. Emerald green eyes glanced right back at me, slightly covered by some bangs which got loose as I pulled of my Ski-Mask. _Meh, not that bad. Normally I have to make a new ponytail when I pull it off._

I left the room, there won't be anything of value in the bathroom, trust me. I've got experience, there won't be anything, there never is. I once again walked across the hallway and to the staircase and silently made my way down the stairs. Now I was in a little room, seemingly also a hallway with another 2 doors and the front door. The room had a wonderful, crimson carpet and wooden walls. Beautiful double doors with little windows in them to see who was at the door, or probably only for style. Beside the door was a little coffee table, over which hang a telephone._ Heh, maybe I can phone Yamada and tell him to get me the hell out of here. _I went over to the phone, picked the receiver up and..

Figures.

The line was dead. _Somehow, I was expecting that._ _Seems like I have to find my own way out, probably through the front door. _As I thought that, I reached for the handle of the front door and trief pulling it open. It didn't move. I tried pushing it open, but no. It just didn't move. _No latch, no chain, no deadbolt. It doesn't even have a keyhole! So why won't the bloody thing open! _I tried again to open it, but it just wouldn't budge. _For fucks sake, this is becoming very tiresome. _I looked at the coffee table once again and I spotted a newspaper. It was a copy of the local paper, dated last friday. I picked it up and began to read it.

* * *

_HEIR TO DEFOE ESTATES FOUND DEAD!  
Sir Tate DeFoe, last of the long-running DeFoe line, was found dead yesterday in his home. DeFoe, 24, was found hanging from a tree in the front yard of DeFoe Manor. _

_His recent bride, Shiho Huit-DeFoe, was also found dead in the mansion, apparently stabbed to death. Inspector Sakomizu A., the officer in charge of the investigation, has closed the case. 'There's no mystere here,' he said. 'DeFoe killed his wife and then himself. We have already disproved the possibility of a third party.' _

_Sir Tate's solicitor, Kazuya Kurauchi, however, has gone on record questioning the Inspector's judgment. 'The last I saw Sir Tate, he was infinitely content. He would never have commited such an act. Plus there was no suicide note.'_

_

* * *

Well, good to know._ I put it back on the coffee table, doesn't have any sense if I drag it with me, then I made my way to the door to my right in hopes of getting somewhere. I turned the knob and resisted the urge to do another victory arm-pump. Who knows, maybe they had the urge to make several bathrooms. I entered the room and immediatly was smacked in the face by a aquamarine blue carpet and walls of the same colour. Seriously, what is it with the carpets and walls matching in here? Even the couch was blue, at least not aquamarine. I love blue, not kidding, but damn, there's always such a thing as 'too much'. To my left I spotted a wooden cupboard full of ceramics, in front of me and slightly off to the left there was the couch. It looked nice with it's gentle, light blue surface. Behind the couch on the wall hung another piece of art, an oilpainting of a landscape, signature identifies it as the work of Nina Wang DeFoe, circa 1818. Near the couch stood an old rocking chair, I would've sat on it, but I didn't know if it could withstand such an act. I mean, it looked really old, who knows, maybe it's antique. Too bad that I can't carry that chair around with me. And lastly across the room, there was a bookshelf only for decoration, judging by the layers of dust that covered the whole thing, near another door.

As I entered that door, I got smacked in the face once again. Another room with aquamarine blue walls, this time accompanied by a nice wooden floor with a big carpet, once again in blue. Another door was straight across. And this time, there was even an aquamarine blue couch on the right wall vis-à-vis an old telly to the left. _Maybe the telly still works, maybe there's some news on the Manor._ I turned it on and it really worked. It showed the BBC News, the reporter Aoi Senoh was talking.

* * *

_'-had no comment at this time. In other news, the society world is still shaken by the sudden death of Sir Tate DeFoe. Sir Tate and his wife Shiho were found dead last Thursday in DeFoe Manor. Our correspondent Takeda Masashi has the report.'_

_'It was just four weeks ago that this place was a buzz of activity as Sir Tate DeFoe moved in with his new bride, Shiho Huit-DeFoe. Now, after this shoking tragedy, the place is quiet as the tomb, and empty of human life.' _Heh. Not quite.  
_'Sir Tate had only proven his attachment to the DeFoe lineage almost one year ago, and since then had been renovating the long-abandoned family mansion in preparation for his marriage. The police have already declared the tragedy as a murder-suicide, although many have insisted that Sir Tate was incapable of such an act. The debate rages on, while the fate of the house and family fortunes remains unclear. This is Takeda Masashi, BBC News, DeFoe Manor.'_

_'Thank you, Takeda. Our top stories again: - minister -'_

* * *

Here the TV cut out. Well, it looked quite old, so.. no wonder. _I hate television. _I looked behind the telly, there was the cord. I unplugged it and took it with me, maybe it could get useful. I trotted to the other door and opened it, mentally thanking whatever god there is, that it opened, and simutaneously praying, that it wouldn't be a bathroom or a cabinet or something else unimportant.

I entered the room, and noticed once again the wonderful crimson carpet and the wooden walls which were tinged a light orange thanks to the fire in the fireplace which was flickering and giving the room a nice, smoky smell.

"Hey!"  
_Uh oh._ I immediatly turned around as I spotted an unfamiliar person in front of the fireplace and wanted to leave.  
"It's about time you showed up!" the person bellowed. _I think, my eardrums just burst. _I turned to face the person with that enormous voice and was confronted with a muscular blonde the same height as I. She wore some slightly baggy, brown jeans, a green shirt, tucked neatly in the pants and a yellow jacket to top it off. _Never heard of matching colours._ I looked her in the eyes, and gazed at purple iris. _Heh. Not even her eyes match with anything._  
Then she bellowed once more, "You should be sorry! I've been stuck in this house for days! Where's the way out?"  
I walked to her, so that we stood face to face and apologized. "I'm sorry... I don't understand."

"You are the one who owns this place, right?"

"Er. no. The guy who owns this place has died."

"..oh. So.. how'd you get in here?"

"Er, a window on the second floor." _Absolutely not suspicious._

"Is it still open?"

"No.. it.. it jammed shut."

"Damn. Well, looks like the house has a new guest. I hope no more turn up.. we've only got five chairs. If you'll exercise me, I've got work to do."

With that, she made to go out the door.

"Wait a minute! Who are you?"

"Oh, I beg your pardon. Haruka's the name. Haruka Armitage-Chrysant. Just call me Haruka. And.. you are?"

"Kruger."

"Ms. Kruger, I'm afraid you are now a present. Like me, like everyone else in the house."

"A.. present?"_ What in the world..?_

"Don't ask me why, but once you get in, the house won't let you leave. I've tried all the doors and windows, none of them open. THe garden wall's unclimbable and I can't pummel under it."

"Er.. but, why? Who's keeping us here" _Seriously, has she got a speech problem?_

"Beats the hell out of me. Whoever it is, they will certainly not be safe from my judgment once I get out of here! So, if there's something you're not telling me, now would be a good time to get it off your chest."

"Really. I am completely mystified. So.. how many more people are in this place?" _I love sarcasm._

"Only three more. First there's Mikoto Minagi, the youngest. She turned up just after I did. She's a good girl. Second, Aoi Senoh, you probably know her off the telly, she's a correspondent for the BBC. She came here to make some kind of monumentary, I think, but now she's stuck here with us. And lastly, there's Antsy. Skinny girl with weird ponytails, she won't tell us who she is or where she came from, always mumbling about how her grandmother told her to never talk with strangers. All I know is that she's been here longer than anyone. Nearly a whole week."

"I think I've already met her..."

"Aw. What a heartwarming story. Anyway, why don't you see if you can track them all down, I'm calling a house meeting in the lounge. Spread the word. I trust you'll enjoy your stay at DeFoe manor, Ms. Kruger."

"I still don't understand - "

"Just find the others and tell them to meet up in the lounge. We can discuss things properly then."  
With that, she left the room. _Just great. Seems like my priority would be to get the hell out of here, loot be damned. _

I looked around, now that there wasn't anyone who would blabber on and on.  
On the left side of the room was the fireplace, above it hung a giant head of a moose, and beneath the head hung an old rifle. To the left of the fireplace hung another head of an animal, this one had been a tiger in the act of snarling, presumably to justify its death in some small way. Across the room, vis-à-vis to the door, hung yet another head of an animal. It looked like a lion. Poor animals.  
On the wall with the tiger head, were some very old sepia photographs, one showed a man in explorer's gear, standing over a dead tiger. The label read 'Sir Tate DeFoe tames a vicious beast.'  
Beneath that photo, hung one which portrayes a native bearer in an aggressive stance before a very wary-looking lion. The label read 'Savage versus Savage.'  
On the right side of the fireplace there were another two photographs. One was an ancient picture of two men in full hunting gear, the label read 'Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe and Carstairs.'  
And the last photograph showed a small collection of straw huts. The label read 'A native village.'  
_I guess Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe was on a small trip in africa._ And lastly, on the far wall opposite to the door there was another little coffee table with a belljar placed on it. I looked at the thing inside - it was a rather hideous-looking, wooden idol.

Here wasn't anything else, all the things which were of value, I wasn't able to carry around. Well, asides the little figurine, but I honestly wouldn't pay anything for that hideous thing. I left the room and went to search for Mikoto and Aoi, Antsy probably locked herself up somewhere. _I guess I really did scare the poor little girl._

I went back into the hallway and tried the other door, near the staircase and thankfully it opened._ I guess just the doors upstairs are locked, for whatever reason. _I got into a large dining room with a beautiful, long dining table with five chairs of the same wood. Here was also a crimson carpet and wooden walls. _I like this style._ I didn't even try to open the windos, Haruka said they're all closed, and I really don't think that those two windows here were any different from the rest. But between those windos there hung another painting. It was a pleasantly professional-quaility portrait of a bearded man with a scar between his eyes in a Victorian explorer's outfit. A little plaque at the bottom read 'Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe.'  
Hell, if I could I would take that portrait with me, but it was really too big. I guess I really should forget about getting something of value in here. I took the door on the other side of the room, opposite to the one from which I entered.  
I was now in the kitchen. A neatly, white tiled floor and bright, yellow walls.. and a turquoise door on the far end of the right wall. _Stylish indeed. _On the right wall there were counters, a little stove and a sink, oh, and a fridge. I took a peek in the fridge - it was completely empty. _Evidently no-one cares if I starve in this place._ I frowned and closed the fridge again and opened all the cupboards underneath the counter's. In the one next to the stove there was a huge sack of salt. _Heh. If I ever need lethal quantities of salt, I'll know where to look. _I snorted as I thought that. At least I still had my sense of humor and wouldn't die because of boredom.  
I took the turquoise door, noted mentally what a hideous colour it was, and now I was in the backyard. The railings were made of massive bricks and certainly were not climbable. God damnit. Even the tree beside the manor was too far away to jump above the walls of brick. I guess that just had to be my luck. near the tree lay a little twig, I picked it up. Oi, maybe I need it! At least I can make myself a little fishing rod with the cord and the stick, even though I do not know what sense it would make. I looked at the tree once again, and pushed against it, i had seen someone up there.

"Hey!" Someone shouted from above.

"Oi! What are you doing up there? Get back down here! Haruka's calling a house meeting in the lounge!" I shouted back at the person in the tree. And seconds later, a little girl, maybe 14 of age with bright yellow eyes and short, black hair which had been braided on the sides of her face jumped down. She wore normal blue-jeans and a white tee, nothing special.

And to say I was impressed was an understatement. She was nearly as stealthy as I, and I was a gentleman thief, a professional. She just nodded and went inside, leaving me once again alone. I glanced around, there was a quite large swimming pool, and near it was a little shack, with another turquoise door. _Seriously, who picked the colours in this house?_ I tried prying it open, but - surprise! It wouldn't budge. Figures.  
I went further into the backyard and there, behind the pool was a quite big piece of lawn, totally digged up and 'raped'. _Looks like Haruka really tried to tunnel under the raillings. Or.. was digging just for the heck of it. Maybe she thought of finding something. I'd need to ask her about that._

I trotted back into the house, I still had to find Aoi for the house meeting. I took the stairs back up to the second floor, looking for the other two people. _Maybe little Antsy calmed down and came out from he rhiding spot.. _I looked to the door near the bathroom door. _..or maybe I'd find a crazy reporter trying to pry open a door, while kneeling before it._  
Seriously, there kneeled a bruenette woman in a turquoise blouse and a deep blue skirt, wearing matching high heels.

"Erm.. excuse me, madam?"

"What? Oh, hello. Haruka mentioned we had a new guest."

"You are Aoi Senoh, right?"

"Yes, you must have seen me on TV. And you are?"

"Kruger."

"Got a first name?"

"None of your busi - "

"Hey, wait a second! Not the Ice Princess Kruger? Oh, wow! I presented a Crimewatch special on you once!" She turned around and mumbled something that sounded like, "Oh man, I wish I had a camera right now.. this could be huge!" Then she faced me once more. "You wouldn't consent to an interview, would you?" Her sapphire blue eyes were lit with excitement and she smiled.

I looked at her, "Seriously?" She nodded 'Yes'.  
"Look, even if I spontaneously had a retarding brain injury that would cause me to do so, don't you think our apparent imprisonment is a slightly more urgent matter?"

"Well.. I admit I thought so the first day I was here. but I've been here four days now, and I really think I', learning a lot about this place. If I could just get these infernal doors open..." _Heh. Sucker. Wait.. I couldn't open those too.. damnit._

"..Haruka's calling a house meeting in the lounge. Get down there, woman." I sighed. _Strange woman._

"Yes, it's so like her to do that when a new face appears. I'll see you later, Ms. Kruger." I couldn't even blink, already was she out of sight and apperantly downstairs in the lounge. I wondered, why the heck the people here are so fast, or how the hell they do that. That would be useful for a thief like me. With that thought, I went back down and into the lounge - apperantly the room ned to the hallway downstairs was the lounge. Aoi and Haruka sat on the couch, Mikoto took the rocking chair. She kind of looked like a cat sitting there. I wasn't even completely in the room, yet Haruka already bellowed with her thunderous voice.

"Ah, our new arrival has graced us with her present." "It's presence, Haruka." "I know what I said, Aoi. Clean your ears."  
"As I said, nice of you to grace us with your presence," She shot a look at Aoi, who just nodded. "I expect there's a lot you want to know. Join the club."

I went to the other end of the couch, near Aoi, and just stood there, there wasn't any place to sit besides the floor.  
"So, let me see.. if I've got this clear in my head." I said. "You're all trapped in this house by some invisible intelligence. And you can't leave." All three of them nodded their head in agreement. "And as soon as I entered, I became trapped too." Once again, all three nodded their head in agreement. I sighed.  
"Why? Why would anyone want to keep us prisoner here?"

Mikoto voiced her thoughts, she really was quite young. "Maybe they're just lonely."

I shook my head, "No, if they wanted company, they'd have shown themselves."

Once again, a thunderous voice sounded, "Maybe they have, maybe one of us is behind all of this!" As she said this, she suspiciously looked at Aoi, who just giggled. "Oh, don't be silly, Haruka. Why would any of us want to trap a load of people here and pretend we didn't?"

The blonde shouted her opinion, "I don't know, do I! I don't speak clooney!" "I think you mean loony."

I interrupted them, "We mustn't squabble amongst ourselves. Hampered by paranoia and suspicion, we'd only hinder each other. I say, we assume for now that we four are all innocent."

Mikoto nodded her head in agreement and a huge smile split her face. I like that kid, she's optimistic.  
Haruka harrumphed, and Aoi spoke, "We five, including Antsy. Where is she anyway?"

"I couldn't find her anywhere." _Probably because I nearly scared her to death._ "I saw her just after I arrived, but she ran away from me."

Aoi once more voiced her opinion, "Well, that's odd.. Listen, Ms. Kruger. We work as a team in this house, that's how it's been since it started. So we all have to share information. No secrets. So, why did you come to this house?"

Before I could open my mouth, Haruka cut me off. "She's the Ice Princess, a burglar. Why do you even have to ask that?"

"Well, I didn't come here to take part in some freakin' Big Brother event, that's for sure." I glared at Haruka.

"Is there anything you know about this house that would help? Anything at all?" Aoi asked, hope within her voice.

"I doubt I know much more than any of you guys. All I know is that the last heir just died and it's supposed to be deserted."

"Hmph. Well, I guess you're not much of a help then. But I suppose an extra pair of hands is always useful." Haruka crossed her arms in front of her and put one foot over the other as she spoke.

"I'm still not completely clear on a few things.. do I get to ask you all some questions, now?"

"Sure. Just ask any of us whatever you like, Ms Kruger." _At least Aoi's polite. Well, here it goes._

I started asking questions, the first one was Aoi. "Ms. Senoh?"

"Yes, Ms. Kruger?"

"What do you know about the mansion?"

"Well, I've heard some pretty disturbing stories about it." Haruka mumbled something which sounded like "Oh boy, here we go."  
"There've been stories of weird happenings around it for decades. Ever since the first dissapearance of the original owner and his have gone missing in the area around the house more than anywhere else in the country. People from all walks of life."

"People like us, you mean?"

Mikoto flinched. "Don't say that, Ms. Kruger."

I continued questioning Ms. Senoh. "How did you come to be here?"

"I only came down here for a documentary. There's been a lot of interest in old ghost stories lately, we figured something on DeFoe Manor would pull in the ratings."

"And not because it would make an interesting viewing? This is why I hate television."

"Excuse me, I was talking. I arrived here before the camera crew, I was supposed to wait for them... but I couldn't resist just taking a walk around the grounds, and next thing I knew, I was in the back yard. I looked all over, but I couldn't find a way back to the front. It was my own fault, really." _No one said it wasn't._

"Yes, it was." Haruka voiced both our thoughts.

"Well, what happened to your camera crew, Aoi?"

She shook her head, "I have no idea. They probably left when I never showed up. I'm sort of glad they didn't get mixed up in this too."

"Quite. Tell me a bit about yourself, please."

"Why, that's so sweet of you to ask!" _On second thought.. don't tell us about yourself._ "I'm a correspondent for the BBC, but you probably already knew that. I do outside broadcasts for the news, mainly. Sometimes I present documentaries, or variety shows, whenever I'm needed, really."

Haruka snorted. "Very much a Jill of all trades."

"Er, thanks. That's all I wanted to know, Ms. Senoh."

And so I continued to ask Haruka, who told me that she read an aritcle in her monthly Treasure-Hunter magazine about the Manor. It said, that it was built by some ecplorer guy, Sir Nagi DeFoe, or something like that. She also informed me, that his wife died giving birth and that he and his son went missing some time later. Then she lent me the magazine, said she couldn't retell things well and that the article itself would be more help. She told me that she came here to look for some artifacts - long story short; the same reason as I. We both take from those, who don't need it anymore, or who aren't alive anymore. Then she proceeded to tell me about herself, said that she kind of worked in the import-export business and once again rambled about how she wasn't a thief - she was a treasure hunter.

I posed the same questions to Mikoto, although she certainly wasn't older than 15, she may know something that would help me. She told me about a stupid dare she got caught up in, and which resulted in herself being locked up here. Kids these days. She also told me she heard stories, that som crazy hermit lived here and killed people, and then ate them alive. I mentally facepalmed. _How the hell could he eat them alive, if he already killed them? Wait.. so not the point.  
_She also told me, that she was 16. Heck.. one could be wrong, okay? She really looked not one day older than 14, maybe 15.

Then something in my mind suddenly clicked.  
"Anyone else see the pattern in all these stories?" I asked all three of them.

"Which pattern would that be, oh wise one?" Haruka bellowed. She seriously needs a button to turn the volume down.

"Seems to me, the house only traps people individually. It didn't try to trap Mikoto's friends, neither did it try to trap Aoi's camera crew, nor your buddies, Haruka. It's only letting us in one at a time.."

Aoi rolled her eyes. "You're talking about the house like it's intelligent. Surely it's more likely that there's a just some juker behind all this."

"Maybe. But how did they know we were coming? How did it know to leave a window open for me, risking one of you finding it?"

Mikoto lost her big, cheese eating smile. Fear evident in her voice, she asked, "You think the house is.. haunted?"

Now I rolled my eyes. "I wouldn't use THAT word. But i definitely have a very odd feeling.. like we're beinge watched, I suppose."

Haruka laughed, "Yeah, sure. Maybe this is one of Aoi's rating Winners. Locking up some people in a house against their will and secretly filming them. Sounds like a natural Reality TV progression."

Aoi sighed, "It's also highly illegal. Where the hell has Antsy got to, anyways? I was hoping she'd be here. She's been doing some research on the house, she was going to share it with us tonight. Maybe someone should go look for her.."

"What, now? It's getting pretty late.." Haruka said as she glanced at her wristwratch.

"Yup, she's right. I'm getting tired." Mikoto nodded and said.

"I admit, I'm getting tired too." I yawned. Aoi wanted to say something, but I cut her off. "I don't think you need to worry, if she still hasn't turned up by morning, then we'll look for her." Aoi sighed and nodded in agreement.

With that, we all looked for some place to sleep. I took the couch in the 'lounge'. I lay upon it, and closed my eyes, thinking about today's events, and about the event's that could occur tomorrow.

_So much for my easy heist.. damn you, Yamada.. damn you._

_

* * *

_Omake Time?

Omake

Bathroom Scene reloaded?

_Geez. One door opens - and it just has to be the bathroom. Great. Really great._ Well, well, well.. the shower curtain was drawn. Maybe that girl with the strange hair hid behind it._ Reminds me of that movie I once saw - what was it called again? Hmm... oh well, nevermind_. I went to the shower and with one strong pull it was pulled back - revealing a naked Shizuru.

_What in the world?_ "Shi-Shizuru! You're not even mentioned once in the entire chapter! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"  
"Mou. Bad Author-san. I like this scene better than the one you put in the story."


	2. Chapter 2

Here it is, the second chapter. Have a good read.

Disclaimer: I do neither own Mai HiME/Otome, nor do I own Ben 'yahtzee' Croshaws Chzo Mythos Series.

* * *

Day Two - The Nightmare Begins

* * *

I was standing in the lounge, looking at the dust-covered bookshelf, wondering if those books are even real or if they are just glued in there to make the room look better than it is, when I heard a sound. _The hell?_ _What was that noise?_ _Was that Antsy?_  
I turned to where the sound came from - from the hallway. Cautiously I walked across the room to the door, turning the knob silently and entered.

Upon intering, I froze on the spot. I couldn't believe my eyes, there were three people. All three lying on the crimson carpet, soaking it with their own crimson. And to top it all off, those weren't any people, those were Haruka, Aoi and Mikoto. They were located in the middle of the room, Haruka near the coffee table, Aoi near the staircase and near the blonde and Mikoto lay to Haruka's feet. She was the only one, who lay on her back, while the other two were laying on their sides as if they were writhing in pain before finally dying. All three had massive stabbing wounds in their stomachs, god, I couldn't believe it.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! WHO DID THIS!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. _Seriously, what the hell have I've gotten into?_ I stared at all three of them as I walked nearer to them to get a better look, I still couldn't believe it, until I smelt all the crimson, that metallic smell. Suddenly the door to the dining hall opened, I turned around and my eyes widened. "What in the..?" I asked disbelieving.

There stood a female figure dressed in a bloodstained, brown leather apron. Not kidding. A woman, seemingly my height, panting hard while looking at me through a freaking welding mask, while holding a large machete which was also covered in blood. _Oh my fucking god._  
I tried to form coherent thoughts as I gazed upon the figure, it slowly crept towards me as I felt a cold sweat breaking out on my skin. My skin crawled as it came nearer, I'm glad I couldn't see that face, which must have been either grazed with a psychotic smile with matching, psychotic eyes, or.. or.. _I don't know! FOR FUCKS SAKE, RUN KRUGER!  
_My jaw hung open, my throat became dry and I couldn't blink. I slowly stepped back, still gaping at that.. that.. that thing while it took another step. My heart nearly jumped out of my ribcage as it came nearer while I went backwards. I couldn't see the things behind my back - duh! - so I tripped over Haruka's feet. _Are you fucking kidding me?_  
I panicked and stared up to figure - now it stood right above me, still holding that machete in her hands, her head bent to look me in the eyes, presumably.  
Then, it did what I least expected. It took of the welding mask, and showed me it's face. Long, dark hair slightly stuck to her forehead, her lips grimaced into a terrifying smile and her eyes stared upon mine. There wasn't any sign of emotion in those mesmerizing, emerald eyes. I was so confused and terrifyied, I didn't really recognize her feautures - that was until she raised the machete high above her head and brought it down. Before it collided with me, it hit me that it was me.

I jumped off the couch, eyes wide open, pupils dialeted. I panted while I now lay on the carpet, sweating heavily and holding a tight fist to my chest right above my racing heart. I sat up, still horribly confused as to what the fuck is going on and tried to think about it all. It seemed so absolutely abnormal, yet at the same time it felt all so real. The smell of their blood, the feeling of my head hitting the carpeted crimson floor.. _Maybe I shouldn't go to sleep anymore in this house._  
My eyes were still wide as saucers, as I finally stood up and weaved a hand through my hair before pulling it in a ponytail. I rapidly blinked and looked at the door which lead to the hallway of my nightmare, literally. _I.. don't know if it would be such a good idea to go there, I do definetly not want to see something like that again._ But I had to go there sometime.

_Curses._

I trotted to the door, put my hand on the knob and closed my eyes, trying to forget those pictures in my head, while I silently repeated the words "It was just a terrible nightmare, calm down. Breathe in, and out." like a mantra. Seriously, I am NOT a wussy, but for fucks sake - that was one hell of a nightmare! It's not all day that you dream of yourself as a freaking, cold blooded killer.  
I opened the door and entered, ready for everything that I could stumble upon.

Nothing.

No blood, no metallic smell, no corpses, no creepy horror music playing in the background.. _wait, what? Creepy horror music? Okay, that's just absurd. _It was also absurd, that I heard strange, hushed whispers mumbling in the background. _That nightmare must have gotten to me more than I tought._ I crossed the room and entered the dining room where I was immediatly greeted by friendly yellow orbs.  
Mikoto sat there, looking up from the book she had been reading and gave me a big, cheesy smile. _I've already said it, but I really like that kid._

"Hey there, Mikoto. What's up?"

"Hello, Ms. Kruger! Nothing much, I was just relaxing. If you look for the others, Aoi is up in the library - someone apparently managed to get the door open. And Haruka is.. uh. I don't know. Sorry!"

"Oh, don't worry. Thank you, Mikoto." I smiled at her. _Yup, definetly like that kid.  
_I didn't even bother to ask about Antsy, she probably was still hiding somewhere, or found a way out. without telling us where it was. I noticed the superb painting of Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe once more, but this time.. it seemed different. There was an elderly man with a beard on the picture, instead of the younger one I saw yesterday. _I'm seeing things, great.  
_The thing I did next, besides shrugging and shaking my head to get that pciture out of my head, was the logical action in terms of my knowledge where the others - or at least Ms. Senoh - were.

I went in the backyard.  
As soon as I stepped out, I heard Haruka's booming voice. _I guess I know where she is._ I followed her voice, which was very easy and came to a stop next to her. She was on the piece of lawn which had been 'raped'. Seriously, there were holes nearly everywhere and earth nearly covered all the green there once had been. She stood there, looking frantically around and listening to the sounds of her metal-detector.  
_Wait.. a metal-detector? Where in the wolrd has she got that from? And what the heck is she doing with it?_

"Oi, what are you up to?"

"What does it look like? I'm trying to find a way out. I've heard that there's some kind of family tomb buried somewhere under the hounds. If I can find it, there might be another way to the surface."

_...I think she just wants some kind of treasure._ "And I presume any family valuables they have down there would be an absolutely unexpected bonus?" _ Did I already say that I love sarcasm?_

"Oi, judge not lest ye be jugded yourself."

"..at least I have some sense of priorities."

"Well, when you've found an espade route, delinquent, and save us all, I'll be sure to apologize profusely."

_Maybe you should learn to speak before you open your damn mouth, you freaking megaphone! _I nearly said that, but I managed to hold it in and instead asked her, how she knew that here would be the tomb.

"Pff, beats me. I don't know. That's what the metal-detector is for, duh."

"..It's probably all stone and dusty corpses, how the hell should that thing manage to get a signal from that?"

"You'd be surprised how much metal can be found in a tomb. Jewelry, candlesticks, belt buckles, coffin handles.."

"..and gold, and silverware..."

"Implying something?" She glared at me, arms akimbo.

"Oh goodness, me? No, never. Listen, the tomb could be on the other side of the grounds for all you know."

"Sure, but where else should I start? And until I see some compelling evidence for its location, I'll continue my systematic sweep right here."

"Anyhow.. did you try to dig up the lawn? And more importantly - did you find a way unter the railings? ..or something.. else?"

"Yup, that was me. And no, there isn't any way under them. I dug several metres deep - the walls go even farther down. But I found some kind of pipeline running under the lawn, but not much else. A few insects and such."

_Wopee. I was totally interested in that last bit of information._ "Urgh. See you around, Haruka."  
She just waved me off and went back to sweeping the metal-detector around the ground. I hadn't anything else to do here, so I went back into the house and this time I really did the logical thing. I went up to the second floor and tried prying open the doors in search of the library.

As I finally found the right door, I couldn't stop myself from facepalming.  
Another green room. Fucking great. And yes, it was the same shade of green as in the office and the hallway, thus incredibly getting on my nerves. Fortunately Aoi wore something eye-catching and I immediatly focused on her.

"Morning, Ms Senoh."

"Ah, hello to you too, Ms. Kruger. Do you happen to know where Antsy is?"

"I was just about to ask you that. I don't know either. Nevermind. Did you sleep well?"

"Honestly? No. I had this terrible dream... someone had killed you and Haruka and Mikoto... I remember a rather tall figure with a welding mask, holding a machete.."

"Let me guess. The figure took of the mask and she looked exactly like you."

"..no." _Huh? No? _"...actually, she looked exactly like YOU." As she spoke those words, she started fidgeting nervously. "What does it mean, Ms. Kruger?"

"Honestly, I don't want to know. Let's just.. forget about that. Did you by any chance break the lock on the door?" _Or did it open up by itself while creaking creepily?_

"Nope, I just came up here and it was like that. I suppose Antsy must have done it, she must have been reading from that pile of books." And that was when I noticed said pile of books lying near the shelves, one book opened up, the rest piled up.

"How are you feeling?"

"Spare me the gallantry, Kruger."

"Geez, calm down, just asking. Soo.. I take it, Antsy still hasn't turned up yet."

"No, do you think she found a way out?"

"If she did, she didn't have the decency to tell us." _Stupid Antsy wit hher stupid ponytails._

"Maybe she just saw an opportunity and took it. Wouldn't surprise me, she certainly is kind of jumpy."

"Hm.. maybe. Anyway, what did you know about her? Did she tell you anything?"

"No, she neither told any of us where she came from, nor why she came here.. she didn't even tell us her full name. That's why we call her Antsy."

"Kind of suspicious, isn't it? Do you think she had some kind of agenda?"

Aoi shook her head and shrugged. Then she smiled teasingly. "Of course, you're no-one to judge when it comes to withholding names."

"Heh. See you later, Ms. Senoh." With that, I turned to the bookshelves and started looking through them. There even was the 1988 ediditon of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, with Wagner to Woodlouse missing. Then I stumbled upon something interesting, a couple of binders containing old architectural plans for DeFoe Manor, inclusive some plans on this house. I took the plan of the DeFoe Manor out of them - that's when I remembered that Haruka gave me her article cut-out from a magazine called 'Treasure Hunting Monthly'. _Heh. She DID say, that it could help me more than herself telling me about it. Maybe I should read it, so I can check on the plans if there is something._

_

* * *

_

_THE MYSTERY OF DEFOE MANOR_

_DeFoe Manor, one of the country's more notorious stately homes, is renowned for being a great source of untold wealth, but what is the curse that surrounds the creaking house?  
The mansion was built in the eraly 19th century by the legendary explorer Sergay Wang DeFoe, in celebration of his retirement and marriage.  
Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe dissapeared along with his only daughter on the fifteen year anniversary of his wife's sudden death. After that, the house fell into the possession of a succession of heirs, most of whom died or dissapeared in mysterious circumstances.  
The house was left abandoned after the last heir was thought to have died in 1946, until recent appearance of Tate DeFoe, who managed to rove his connection to the lineage and inherit the house._

_

* * *

_

_Well, Tate proofed his lineage, but that certainly had been his death, as we saw. _Sadly, there wasn't any mention of a tomb, so I looked at the plans of the Manor.  
There clearly was the tomb marked under the FRONT yard.. to which we cannot attain to since the front door doesn't budge. _Heh. Sucks, doesn't it, Haruka?_  
I looked over the plan once more, that's when I noticed something odd about it, like there was something missing.. no wait. There was something that didn't belong there. There was a staircase drawn, near the kitchen. I don't recall seeing that.  
_Well, I guess I should show Haruka this plan. Then she won't dig up the lawn anymore back there._ As I turned and went to the door one single book caught my attention. I took it from the shelf. 'The History of the DeFoe Lineage' _Heck, it's about time that I read up something on the DeFoe family._

_

* * *

_

_Sergay Wang Defoe, later Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe, is probably the most famous of the lineage. Using a lot of the inheritance he attained when his parents died suddenly, he embarked on a series of adventures throughout the globe, earning quite a reputation as a colonial explorer.  
He retired from adventuring at the age of 40, when he met his future bride, Mai Tokiha, and fell instantly in love. He built a luxury manor in the English countryside, and the couple moved in as soon as work was complete. By all accounts, the couple were deliriously happy, which is what made Mai's sudden death while giving birth to their only daughter, Nina, all the more tragic.  
Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe was in mourning for a long time, leaving the upbringing of Nina in the hands of numerous nannies and tutors.  
When he finally did start taking an itnerest in his daughter, he was bitterly dissapointed as his daughter rejected the idea of joining the army, preferring to pursue art and literature. As Nina Wang neared the age of 15, however, she and her father seemed to grow closer. They didn't always see eye to eye, but they seemed to understand each other, and offer unconditional love.  
And then, on Nina's 15th birthday, she and Sergay Wang disappeared. A servant found bloodstains in one of the rooms, but no bodies were found. The fate of Sir Sergay Wang and his wayward daughter remains a mystery to this day, the first of many mysterious disappearances connected to the DeFoe line and the family house._

_

* * *

_

_Wow, okay. That's different. Wait.. were girls even allowed in the army back then? Meh, beats me. _  
I put the book back in the shelf, and with my newfound knowledge and the plan I made my way to Haruka. She stood there, still swiping the detector around the ground. She didn't even notice me standing behind her, until I sneaked up to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She jumped at least one metre away from me while screaming bloody murder. I had to laugh so bad, but I was able to hold it in, my face became all red and I grinned. _Jumpy much? Hehe._

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT, DAMNIT!" She screeched. Oh, you have got no idea how loud she was, I personally hadn't thought that she was able to be louder than before, but hey.. I can be wrong, can't I?

"Calm down Haruka, it's just me. I found something interesting, here. Take a look at those plans." She glared at me with all her might and took the plans from my outstretched hand, all the while mumbling something incoherent. After some minutes of scanning the paper closely, she cursed under her breath and handed me the paper back.

"See? The tomb is quite clearly under the front yard, and as you know, there is absolutely no freaking way to the frontyard from here."

"…well, I guess that's my escape plan out the window."

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Heh, yeah. Thanks a bunch, delinquent."

"Oi, wait! Can I borrow your metal detector?"

"Why the hell not? Take away my hopes, might as well take my only worldly possession, too." With that shen early threw said detector at me and stormed into the house. I guess I really did upset her, but hey.. at least now I can investigate this place further, I still want to get the fuck out of here. Or at least pick up my lockpicks from my car. _I still cannot believe I forgot them._ I sighed. _Well, no point in whining around about them._  
I trotted back to the pool, there was a pipeline leading away from it, maybe I could find a panel to let the water out. Who knows what's under the surface. I took the detector, held it against the pipeline and followed the beeping noise, it led back to where I came from, to the piece of lawn that was totally digged up. It lead to a little heap of earth, there it ended completely.  
I looked at that heap closer, and crouched down, brushing away some earth until I found a panel. _Heh. Haruka's labouring must have covered it up._ I turned the panel as far as it goes and waited some time. Nothing happened, at least not here, I didn't even hear a sound. So I went back to the pool and lo and behold! It was now empty. Still a bit wet, but hey, I could climb the pool ladder down and look around. Said and done, I looked back up the ladder one more time and then turned around.

_OH FUCK!_

I walked to the pool middle and took another look. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!_  
There on the ground lay Antsy, completely drained of colour safe from the little bit of crimson that showed on her shirt. She stared up into the sky, mouth AND throat hanging open. Her dress-shirt was soaked, as were her black dress-pants - no wonder, she lay the whole time in the freaking pool. _Wait, how the hell didn't she float on the water?_ I examined her more closely, and then I saw the metal chain around her waist attached to an iron hook on the bottom of the pool. _Okay, look and then ask. Wait.. SO not the point!_ I stared in horror once more on her split open throat - it must have been cut open by some large edged weapon...

"Oh my fucking god, the stench!" I uttered disgusted and clamped my hand over my mouth and nose, trying to block said thing out. "I have got to find the others.." I hurried up the ladder and ran into the house.

"Dead? What do you mean, dead?" Aoi asked, I was talking with both, Ms. Senoh and Ms. Armitage-Chrysant in the hallway downstairs.

"..dead as in she won't be standing up anymore. On the other side. Gone with the wind ~! Or well.. gone with the water, or something like that." _Seriously, dead means dead. I thought her to be smarter than that._

"Spare us the humor, delinquent. Better tell us how."

"Oi, don't bark, don't bite. She was murdered, stabbed to death and then tied to the bottom of the pool."

"Oh my God.. I can't believe it." Aoi stared in shock at me.

"You know what that means, don't you? We are the only ones in the house. One of us has to be the killer." Haruka said, to everyones surprise she didn't yell.

I rolled my eyes. "Not necessarily. I don't think any of us could - "

"OH SHUT UP! IT WAS YOU WASN'T IT!" The megaphone had spoken. "You killed Antsy and now you're covering up your tracks! Seriously! Think about it! The moment that delinquent appears, one of us gets killed!"

"Haruka, you're being absurd, why would she tell us where the body is if she wanted to hide it?" Aoi tried to knock some sense into her, but it didin't work.

"As I said, she's covering up her tracks. And don't tell me you're not at least a little bit suspicious of her!"

I shook my head. _God damn that loudmouth._ "Look, what happened to Antsy was a terrible thing, but if we let it tear us apart, we could all go the same way."  
Aoi nodded in agreement, "She's got a point Haru - "

"Oh I see. You're all in on this together." Aoi tried to say something, but Haruka immediatly silenced her, "SHUT UP! As far as I am concerned, there's no-one I can trust anymore in this house. From now on, it's everyone for themselves."

"But, what about Mikoto? She's a nice kid."  
Haruka just glared at me and then left the room.

"Baka."

"She's shaken, we all are. Don't worry too much Aoi."

"So.. what do you think? About Antsy, I mean.."

"I really am not sure, but I think we're being haunted." Aoi looked incredulously at me.

"Oh, at least someone's keeping their head." She lightly giggled. _Heh, at least I can still make her laugh._

"Oh for fucks sake, woman. I am not exactly in love with such an unscientific idea as a murderous ghost either, but nothing other than the supernatural could have engineered this situation. Think about it. And this house has a bad history, a history I think it's time I started looking into more."

"Well, you do whatever you want. I think I'm going to look into Antsy's death with a slightly more sensible attitude." _Sensible? Puh-lease. You're just looking for a story. _

"Anyway. Where's Mikoto? Someone should tell her about Antsy."

"I think she went upstairs." I nodded in agreement and walked up the stairs.

I found myself again in the bathroom. The shower curtain had been drawn once again, and I heard a female voice behind it, whispering the word 'Father?' _Mikoto? What the?  
_"Oi, Mikoto? Is that you?"_  
_"What are you doing, father?" _Fa - What the hell? _"Father, no! No, don't! Father! FATHER!"  
"HOLD ON!" I shouted and ran to the shower, or more precisely the bathtub with an inbuilt shower and pulled the curtain with all my might back.  
I stared at a filled bathtub - crimson liquid as far as it goes without running down the sides. On the wall behind the curtain there was a large splatter of blood and the word 'Father' written under it, also with the same red liquid.  
_The fuck?_  
Suddenly an ear splitting scream was let loose - high pitched, definetly a female voice and at the same time a completely black skeleton spurt out of the bathtub, blood running over it's bones. It's arms stretched out, gripping mine and pulling me in the tub. I didn't even have the time to scream.

"Ms. Kruger?"  
I jumped off the couch, nearly tumbling to the ground. My eyes were once again as wide as saucers and I stared into yellow orbs. Mikoto stood by my side, she must have caught me before I fell to the floor. I panted hard, and Mikoto helped me upon the couch once more. She stared curiously at me, and I stared at her, still asking myself what the fuck is going on.

* * *

Yup, now it goes to the scary part - wohoho! *cough* Erm. Yeah. Sorry. I hope you liked it.

Omake Time once more? Anyone?

Omake:

I walked to the pool middle and took another look. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!_  
There on the ground lay Antsy, completely drained of colour safe from the little bit of crimson that showed on her shirt. She stared up into the sky, mouth AND throat hanging open. Her dress-shirt was soaked, as were her black dress-pants - no wonder, she lay the whole time in the freaking pool. Then she started coughing non-stop.

"Oi, Antsy! Damnit, you're supposed to be dead, so don't move, don't breathe, don't do anything!" I bellowed, my face red from anger.

"Come on~! It is cold, the ground is hard, I want home!" She whined.

"For fucks sake, Antsy.. the sooner we get this done, the sooner you can go home. AND OF COURSE THE GROUND'S HARD! YOU ARE LYING IN A FREAKIN' POOL, GOD DAMNIT! THERE ARE TILES!" I screamed once more. With that, I climbed back up the ladder, waiting for the next shoot.


	3. Chapter 3

Greetings!  
So, here it is, chapter three. I hope you enjoy it and maybe write a little review and maybe point out, which parts you liked? Or disliked? Somethink like that?  
Either way, I'd be happy to read from you.

Disclaimer: I do neither own Mai HiME/Otome, nor do I own Ben 'yahtzee' Croshaws Chzo Mythos Series.

* * *

Day Three - Dear Diary

* * *

"Ms. Kruger? Are you alright?"  
Mikoto asked, her voice laced with panic while she still kneeled in front of me. I blinked some times to get my mind out of the gutter while I stared through her. I was so confused..  
Mikoto frantically looked around, then she zoomed off of sight and I heard the door opening and closing. Soft steps followed by heavy steps, then the door opened again and this time Mikoto and Haruka kneeled before me. I saw their lips moving, seemingly talking to me, but I didn't hear them. I only heard the hushed mumbling of words which sounded like 'father, why?' and 'remove... this world'. My mouth went dry, no wonder since it hung open, and my breathing was labored.  
Haruka's purple gaze was set upon me, I felt someone gripping my shoulder and lightly shaking me while I registered that Haruka was talking to me. 

Suddenly, the voices stopped, I could hear my own breathing, I could feel my hands shaking and the cold sweat which glued some strands of hair to my forehead, and I felt a stinging sensation on my left cheek.  
Apperantly Haruka had to fucking slap me to get me back into their world, away from those whispers. _God, they were so strange.._

"Heh. As much as I enjoyed slapping you, Kruger, don't ever do that again. You scared that kid pretty badly." I could finally hear her booming voice, god I had never been so happy about that. I looked at her, then at Mikoto who now sat next to me and my breathing slowed down.  
"I.. thank you.." I whispered, even I couldn't hear it, but apparently Haruka did. I couldn't form any coherent thoughts, I couldn't think straight, and those goddamn whispers I was hearing didn't help either. _I guess it really just wasn't my imagination when I had heard them yesterday in the hallway.. _I cleared my throat, put my hand on Harukas shoulder and squeezed lightly. "Thank you both. Don't worry.. I was just.. thinking.."_ Yeah, like they'd believe that._

Mikoto sighed, smiled and decided that now was the perfect time to randomly attack me with a bear-hug and squeezed the hell out of me, while Haruka rolled her eyes, brushed my hand away and gave me a little smile. Then I was released from the hug and ruffled through Mikoto's short hair and thanked her for getting the walking megaphone. _I guess she's not that bad._ I smiled at that thought, then I answered Mikoto's question if I was alright. I just told her not to worry anymore and smiled at her. "I'm okay thanks to you two."  
That was seemingly enough for her as she grinned and said, "Okay, Ms. Kruger.. if you need me, I'll be in the library." And with that she was gone. Haruka just nodded slightly at me, pat my shoulder once and then turned to leave, leaving me alone in the lounge again.

I sat there for some more seconds, listening to Haruka's heavy steps before sighing and threading a hand through my hair. _I'll have to go to a therapist so badly after I escape from this damn house, or I'll just have to punch Yamada in the face for telling me about it. Damn him, once again._  
I loosened my tie a bit and stood up, I still had to find some way out or at least a reason as to why the heck I have such nightmares. _Sure, Ms. Senoh also had one hell of a nightmare yesterday, but I don't get why I had to be the killer in her dream too, especially since I originally lay on the floor with a hole in my gut in her dream. But oh well, then I shoudln't have had the dream of me being my own murderer._

"Oh, to hell with it, I still need to speak with Aoi." I said to myself out loud and went out of the door into the hallway. Luckily this time I didn't hear those damn whispering voices like I did yesterday when I entered it. I swallowed and hurridly entered the dining hall, I still didn't like the hallway, where I instantly saw Haruka standing by the big dining table. Several papers were scattered around on it. She murmured something to herself and began rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Oi." I walked up to her and glanced at the table and the papers. "What're you looking at here?"

"Some plans of the grounds I found yesterday. I'm trying to find a way out, I'm fed up with this damn place.. and you of course as well."

"I'm sure you are, Haruka. Anyway. Found anything or no such luck?"

"There's not one way out of this situation. The only ways are from the front yard, and as you certainly know.."

"..I know, I know.. there's no fucking way to the frontyard. Damn it. Well, do you happen to know where Aoi is?"

"Somewhere in the backyard I believe."

"Thank you.. for.. everything." She waved me off and continued glaring at the plans while I turned and instantly noticed something terribly odd. The portrait of Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe, it was different. It now was a portrait of a wizened old man with a white beard in a safari suit. _I swear he once was young on that picture.. or.. am I crazy?_ I shook my head and went out of the room into the kitchen.

Upon opening the door to the backyard, I froze in the doorway. I blinked. Twice. I closed the door once more, breathed in and out and opened it again.

"Okay, why in the world is my freakin' car in the backyard?" I asked no-one. Not kidding, there it was, my blue car with tinted windows, standing peacefully near the pool. _..how the hell did it get here? I swear I parked somewhere near the frontyard._ I went to my car - it really was mine, I checked! - and opened the passenger door. I looked in the glove compartement and there they were, my beloved lockpicks which I had forgotten.  
_At least, I get to have my lockpicks now._ _I can open all the doors now.. well, except for the frontdoor, since that doesn't even have a keyhole. _I put one lockpick in my pantpocket and also hid one in the lining of my tie, like I usually do for emergencies. I closed the door of my car and walked up to the little stash. It had been locked, but that isn't a problem now, I've got my lockpicks.  
I opened the door within seconds and went inside. I looked around and saw nothing except some wooden boxes, a two-men saw hanging on one wall and a pickaxe leaning against another wall.

Curses.

I left the stash and continued looking for Aoi, I still wanted to talk to her. I looked all over the place but I just couldn't find her. _Did she also have ninja-training or what?_ I wondered where she could be, while I took a seat on the rim of the pool, my back facing said object.

"Good morning, Ms. Kruger!"  
_Holy fuck! _I nearly fell off the rim from shock as I heard her voice. Seriously, why did she have to do that? I turned around and looked IN the pool and there she was - standing beside Antsy, notepad in one hand and in the other a.. a briefcase?  
_Did she seriously touch Antsy and loot her pockets?_ I couldn't quite believe my eyes. It certainly was something different when you witnessed something like that, instead of doing that.

"Err.. Ms. Senoh? What.. what are you doing down there?" I asked and stared at her. She looked up at me and smiled as she wrote something quickly on the notepad and turned to face me fully.

"I'm just investigating, like I said I would. I know, it is kind of akward to look in her pockets, but what else do you want to do? Sit around and do nothing? I can still be shocked when we get out of the house and know who killed her."

"..okay, uhm, right. Did you at least find something interesting?"

"You won't believe it. I found her briefcase, as you see," she held up said object and gave it to me to look at it. "Her name was Arika Yumemiya, she was 19years old. Look at her passes." I looked at them and my eyes widened.

"Okay, how in the world does she have a damn pass for nearly every goverment-agency I know of?" I nearly screamed. _That kid was 19years old! How did she do that?_

"Don't ask me, Kruger. At least now we know, why she didn't tell us anything about her."

"..yeah. I guess she really did have a valid reason. Do you know anything else about her?"

"I'm sorry, but as for now I do not know more about her than you do. But. .what do you think of it? I mean, of Antsy being here and the reason behind it?"

"Huh.. let me think.."  
_So, she apparently was someone of the goverment, so she certainly had to be here for a particular reason. Probably to investigate the manor. I wonder if Antsy had found out at least something.. and why the hell were all these agencies interested in the house? _  
"Well.. I'd say she had been here to investigate the manor, these agencies apparently had some sort of interest in it. I have no clue as to why, but maybe you could find more if you.. examine.. her further, Aoi?"

She smiled at me and I gave her the briefcase back. "Maybe.. I'll let you know when I know something else, Kruger. If you'll excuse me?" With that she turned to Antsy again and began writing some stuff on her notepad. I stood up and walked up to the door which led back into the house, when I remembered something and ran again to the pool and interrupted her in her 'investigation'.

"Oh, Aoi?" She looked back up at me. "Do you happen to know why in the world my car is in the backyard?"

"I don't know.. maybe someone wanted to help us? But come to think of it, I do wonder how it came here, I mean, you wouldn't have parked it here, now would you?" She started giggling at the last sentence.

"Heh, yeah. I didn't park it there. In fact, I parked it near the frontyard on a little hill, so I haven't got a clue as to why it now is in here."

"..well. At least now here's some more colour!" I stared incrediolously at her as she said that. Then she started giggling again. God, that looked so wrong.. she was standing next to a corpse, giggling. But I do certainly think it is better like that._ At least she tries to help, like everyone else apparently. _I smiled at that thought, at least I wasn't alone.

I once more went to the backdoor and entered, all the while thinking about as to what I could do now. _Well, I DO have my lockpicks now, so I guess I could try to open those two doors on the second floor, next to the library. Meh, let's give it a shot._ So I went up the staircase and to the second floor, trotted to one of those infernal doors which just wouldn't open and picked the lock. Quite easy going. I tried opening the door, but it didn't budge. _Oh great, a deadbolt. Well, that one is out of the question then._ I instead went to the other door and picked it's lock - this one did open without problems.

Upon entering I immediatly noticed once again the beautiful crimson carpet - this time the room even had matching walls. _Charming, although it makes kind of aggressive._ I looked around, there was one single bed with an old teddybear lying on it, a nightstand beside the bed and a window vis-à-vis the door. Inbetween the window and the bed there was an old closet and even an easel. _I believe this had been Nina's room._ I looked out the window - it was overlooking the backyard. I tried opening it and it really did open, but as I've said, it overlooked the backyard. I took a step away from the window and then looked inside the closet, there weren't any clothes in it, but I spotted a little, green book. I took it, opened it and read it - it was a diary.

* * *

_June 28th, 1814  
Today is my eight birthday. Nanny said I would soon be a beautiful and strong woman. I wanted to see my father today, but he wouldn'T come out of his study all day. Nanny says he always gets cross on this day, but it's not because of me._

_August 5th, 1817  
I found a new friend. She is behind the door in the kitchen and she doesn't have a name. She likes me to sit and talk to her, but father gets very angry when he finds me doing this. I asked father who the girl behind the door was, but he told me there was no-one behind the door and it was just a silly fantasy._

_May 24th, 1820  
I showed father the painting I just finished. He sait it was quite good, which is the best thing he has ever said. While he was in the good mood, I asked if I could go and look behind the door in the kitchen. He pretended not to hear me.._

_June 28th, 1821  
My father has done a terrible thing. All this time he pretended there was no girl behind the door, and now this. There is blood all over the kitchen floor. I will do what I can. Then we can be a family together and be happy._

_

* * *

_

That's where it ends, except for a little ink blot just underneath the lines. _Okay.. that was.. strange. But I guess that had been Nina's diary.. and what was all the talk about the kitchen door? There is no door.. maybe in the other room there is something else. But first.. how do I get the door open? Maybe I can kick it down or something._

I stepped outside and in front of said infernal door and tried once more opening it. Didn't budge. _So I guess I do have to try and kick it down_.  
I took a step back, breathed in and out, in and out.. in.. and out... and kicked with all my might against the door.  
"FUCK!" I screamed and fell to the floor. _Goddamnit that door is solid! _I nursed my foot and my ankle, that certainly did hurt like hell. _God.. so that's also out of the question.. god.._ I slowly stood up and put weight on that leg - at least it wasn't seriously hurt, but goddamnit that was one stupid idea.  
Suddenly the library door flew open and Mikoto stormed out and nearly collided with me.

"Oi, slow down kid, slow down!"

"Ms. Kruger? What happened? What was that?"

"...erm.. that was me... being stupid and trying to kick the door down because it wouldn't open and apparently has a deadbolt on the inside."

Mikoto stared at me. Suddenly she started laughing. _..well I can't get mad at her.. it WAS absolutely retarded. _After some minutes of laughing and literally rolling on the floor from it, she stopped and grinned while looking at me, then at the door and then again at me.

"..what? Do you have a better idea how I could get it open?" I asked.

She began scratching her cheek with one finger and then said, "Why don't you look for a crowbar or something? Maybe I could help you pry it open then!" She beamed.. and I was stunned. _Damnit, she certainly has a better idea than just hitting it and such.. I know why I like that girl, and I certainly know what I could use.._

"That is a good idea, wanna come with me? In fact, I know what to get." She nodded happily and followed me into the backyard and into the little stash. Remember? There was a pickaxe - I certainly could try that. I pointed at said object and told her to bring it with us. As we were walking through the dining hall, Haruka noticed us.

"What the hell are you trying to do, delinquent? And don't tell me you want her to become like you too!" She said as she pointed at Mikoto who followed my every step, all the while carrying the pickaxe.

"Well, my car somehow appeared in the backyard, so I had access to my lockpicks which I forgot before I entered the manor, and I tried opening the locked doors upstairs. One of them apparently has a deadbolt inside, and I want inside. I tried.. kicking it open.. but, that didn't quite work.. It is insanely solid. So Mikoto had the idea to get a crowbar or something, and since I had found a pickaxe inside the little stash in the backyard, I told her about it and here we are, on our way to open the door with the deadbolt by using said pickaxe." I rambled on without taking a breath inbetween the sentences. Haruka stared at me.

"...what?"

"Good Idea. Mikoto, give me that." She took the pickaxe from Mikoto and looked at me once again. "I'll help you, the plans won't run away and I could use some sort of activity besides sitting or standing around."  
With that, we all three went upstairs and stopped in front of the - for now - still locked door.

"So.. shall I try or does one of you wanna try it?" I asked.

"I'll do it." Haruka said, picked the axe up and walked in front of the door. Mikoto and I took some steps back and we watched as she swung the pickaxe behind her and hit the door with a loud **'THWACK'. **She repeated that some more times, and after some minutes we did get a hole in the door big enough for Mikoto to climb through and open the damn deadbolt so I could get inside without having to squeeze myself through the same hole, or without exhausting Haruka to much.

"Thank you Haruka, Mikoto, you've been a great help." I ruffled Mikotos hair, she bear-hugged me and then I pat Haruka's shoulder while both of them went to put the pickaxe back into the stash.

As they did that, I went inside the room - it was just like the other one but instead of the easel there was another nightstand, and instead of the single bed, there was a double bed - so I guess this had been Sergay's room. I opened the closet and looked for something, preferably another diary, but there was none, so I looked in the nightstands and certainly, even the Lord of the House had written a diary. I took a peek inside.

* * *

_March 5th, 1805  
Work on the house is going well. It should be completed by the end of July. Mai is already excitd about the forthcoming wedding, and spends many hours of the day going over even the smallest details over and over again. Not since our early courtship has she been so giddy with joy. It softens my heart to see her smile, and she smiles often. I am wondering why I didn't retire sooner._

_August 12th, 1805  
I am only now having the opportunity to write this, as it has been a most hectic day. The wedding went without a hitch, and the house was ready for us to move in as soon as the ceremony was over. Mai insisted on consummating our marriage immediatly. I am sure, dear diary, this house can expect to hear the laughter of children before 1806 is out._

_February 14th, 1806  
A romantic day for our announcement; the physician has just left, confirminf that Mai is with child, a child we can expect to be born in June. We have already decided to name the child Nina if a girl, or Matthew if a boy._

_June 28th, 1806  
Mai is dead.  
I will never forget her face, ash grey, contorted with pain. The child is healthy. Would that it had never come out about and spared me this fresh hell._

_May 24th, 1820  
Nina showed me the painting of the grounds she had created. I worry about the girl. Why can't she have healthier interests, like soldiering? The painting was fair, I suppose, but I would rather my child be less of a weakling._

_June 28th, 1821  
It is the anniversary of the night I unleashed a horror. A horror, which I tonight shall remove from this world. May God forgive me.._

_

* * *

_

"..I think I've read enough." I said to no-one and closed the diary. _Well, at least I now do have an idea as to what the hell is going on here. I say, that if there is a ghost in this place, there just has to be a connection to the dissappearances of Sir Sergay Wang and Nina Wang DeFoe. But.. was Nina schizophrenic or something? There is no door in the kitchen, so where would that girl behind the kitchen door be? And what the hell happened exactly? Did Sir Sergay Wang kill her because she wasn't like he wanted her and then dissapeared to avoid the law? It certainly IS odd that neither of their bodies were ever found.. if I just could find Nina's body.. perhaps I could get to the bottom of all this insanity.. wait.. the hell? Are those scratches?_  
I looked at the window, or more precisely beneath the window - seriously, there were scratches on the wall. I stepped closer, and as I did this, the voices appeared again. This time they were louder, as if they were nearly yelling inside my head. I rubbed my temple and tried to ignore them for the time being, but they got louder the longer I looked at those inhuman scratches. At least they looked inhuman, I can't imagine a human making such deep scratches with his or her nails. I looked away, and surely - the voices became almost silent, I still heard them whisper something which I couldn't quite grasp, and I am happy about that.

_God.. the voices.. _I shook my head to get rid of them and rubbed the space between my eyebrows, I was getting a terible headache. _Who wouldn't if they had some voices asking why, and telling them to remove something from the world or whatever they are mumbling about._ I sighed and tried to calm down my heart, which was beginning to beat quite fast, and my hands, which were shaking slightly and looking quite pale.. well, paler than usual. _Okay.. what to do now.. I need to find Nina's body.. how do I do that? Dig up the backyard? No.. that wouldn't make sense.. and inside any of these rooms there certainly wouldn't happen to be a corpse.  
_

I went into the library, where I met Mikoto once again, apparently she ran back inside when they had put the pickaxe away and continued doing whatever she had been doing before.

"Mikoto? Any idea how I could find someone's body? I need to find the body of Sir Sergay Wangs daughter, maybe then I can find someway out of here."

"Well.. I don't know if it works, but I found a book somewhere in here.. ah there!" she nodded and took said book and gave it to me. "There was something about finding bodies by using a possession of the person in it, or something like that.." She said and scratched her head.

"Thank you Mikoto, you've been a great help today." I said and then looked at the book she handed me.  
It was a book on White Magic. I peeked inside, maybe there was some kind of method to find bodies.. or.. corpses. I scanned through the pages and luckily, there really was a way, even tough it sounded absolutely ridicolous. _Tie the possession of a person in question to a stick and dip it in salt, next wave it over the place where the subject slept. _I nearly facepalmed. _...and that is considered magic? Oh well.. here it says that it should indicate in which direction the owner lies then. Doesn't hurt to try, now does it? So I just need a stick, something to tie onto it, and then salt. Well, two out of three I already have, I still have that twig and that cord from the lounge, and I certainly know where the hell the salt is. I just need something of Ni.. wait. There was a teddybear in her room, wasn't there? _

I nearly flew out the door and into Nina's room, and there it sat. Her teddybear, upon her bed. I took it and tied the cord around it's neck, then tied it to the twig. Now I had a bear on a stick, which looked a bit.. morbid. I went into the kitchen, earning another curious look and a small smile from Haruka as I passed the dining hall, and dipped it in lethal amounts of salt which I found on the first day I was here. _Great, a salty bear on a stick.. it kind of sounds like a snack._ I snickered at that thought and went once more back up into Nina's room. I still find it interesting ,that Haruka doesn't say anything about the fact that I run around with a salty bear on a stick, but whatever floats your boat.  
I went next to her bed and waved it over said object, and to my surprise it really worked!

It seemed to be indicating downwards, so I went back down the stairs and looked upon the salty bear again.  
Now it seemed to be indicating to the dining hall, so here we go, we are in the dining hall where I looked at it again, I mean.. it would probably give a sign if I was on the right place, right? At least I hoped so, else this could take some time.

I looked at my magic salty bear one again when I was in the kitchen, where it had pointed to when I was in the dining hall, and now it either was not working anymore, or it was pointing straight downwards. Well, there IS no way down from here on! I'm sure! _Meh, I'll just ask Haruka. She had been looking at those plans long enough to know about that._

So I went back to her, and asked her about it, and she pointed out that there seemed to be a staircase near the kitchen which either led up or down. I guess I have to find it. I stepped back into the kitchen and started knocking against the walls, I needed to know if there was some kind of hollow space somewhere, then apparently there should be the staircase.

Knock Knock. _Solid._

Knock Knock. _Solid._

Knock Knock. I grinned. _Bingo, found you._ It was vis-à-vis the door to the dining hall, so I guess I'll have to somehow make a hole there. Luck was upon me - remember the pickaxe? I do.

I got the pickaxe, went back into the kitchen and once more looked for said wall I had to dig a hole in. When I found it, I positioned myself in front of it and swung the pickaxe with all my might. The wall got a crack, and I smirked. I swung once again and hit the wall once more, the crack got bigger and bigger with each hit and after nearly 10minutes of hitting the wall, I made a hole big enough for me to squeeze through. I leaned the now dull pickaxe against the wall and climbed through the hole I created.

_Holy.._

It was a basement, or better said a dungeon. The walls were made of dirty, grey bricks, the floor was covered with dirt and earth and even the stairs were absolutely covered in dried mud. I believe even on the walls were some stains of dried mud mixed with something the colour of crimson. My head started to ache terribly and a great nausea churned incessantly in my gut as I spotted chains across the room.  
_Manacles_. Iron manacles with some dried blood stains on them. I shivered, just my imagination what could have happened here was making my nerves go wild and my heart started hammering painfully against my chest. _What the hell was this room used for? ..do I even want to know that?_ _Ohgod, the stench.. they could've at least made a damn window in here! I'm suffocating in here! _As I thought that, the voices came back full force and whispered 'Remove the Horror'. I still didn't quite know what they wanted to tell me with that. _okay.. calm down Kruger.. calm down.. I.. I was here for a reason.. Nina.. _

I once more looked at the salty bear and went in the middle of the dungeon, it indicated there to. When I was standing there, it pointed straight downwards again, so I guess I have to dig a bit in the earth. I crouched down and started shoving earth away some minutes, until I came across something.

_Oh god.._

I had found Nina Wang DeFoe, daughter of Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe. Or at least, what remains of her. Here was her corpse. _..was she kept down here? No.. She would've written about that... hold on. That certainly isn't her hand!_ I had noticed a hand which was far to big for a girl and took some steps to the right and started digging there. _..it seems, I discovered Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe as well..._ there was a skeleton of a much older man, judging by the size of the bones. Then I took a closer look at their corpses, and noticed that both of them had quite the scratches and cracks on their ribs.. _I guess, they were both killed by a large stabbing weapon.._ _but by whom? _I was running around in circles down here, trying to give it all some sense. _He.. he can't have kept her down here.. that would just be too cruel.. oh god.. _A cold sweat broke out and a chill run down my spine as I thougt about it all.

**SMASH!**

_The hell?_ "What was that?" The sound came somewhere from the other side of the house, it seemed so far away.. or maybe it was just because of the voices which still assaulted my mind. I creeped back up the stairs to the hole I created and squeezed myself through it and into the kitchen. I turned around and stared at the hole and the darkness I could see behind it and cursed it. _God damn, this house gives me the creepes.. I just hope we'll soon get out of here, it's killing me.._

I turned and hurridly went to the door and entered the dining hall. Haruka was still concentrating on the plans, apparently so hard that she didn't hear the sound.. _or was it just in my mind, like those voices? That would certainly explain why she's not looking for it._ I shook my head slightly, making my headache worse but also clearing my mind temporarily from the voices as I entered the hallway. Here was everything normal, so I looked into the lounge and the room with the telly. Still everything normal in those rooms.

_I guess then it either was upstairs or in the trophy room. Here it goes._ With these thoughts, I turned the knob of the door to said room.

Upon entering the voices seemingly screamed at me, they were so loud that I couldn't even understand my own thoughts. My heart was nearly jumping out of my chest, so hard and painfully fast was it beating. My hands were as cold as ice and as pale as my white dress-shirt. They were shaking almost uncontrollably as I gazed across the room at the shards of glass. Apparently the belljar had been knocked over and had been shattered upon hitting the carpet. In the middle of the pool of shards lay the hideous wooden idol, seemingly undamaged. I slowly stepped closer - the closer I got the louder the voices became and also my headache got even worse, which I tought wasn't possible.  
I stared at the idol and noticed little stains on it. _What is that..? Is that.. is that blood?_

I touched the idol, and the voices screamed at me.

* * *

I hope I manage to make the chapters longer in future stories.. but right now, I am quite happy with this chapter, even though it still is quite short. 


	4. Chapter 4

Here you go, the next chapter full of creepiness.. well, maybe. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I neither own Mai HiME/Otome nor do I own Ben 'Yahtzee' Chroshaws Chzo Mythos Series

* * *

Day Four - Meeting The Evil

* * *

I opened my eyes and stared at the cold, hard concrete floor. My head was aching terribly, just like my whole body did, which felt strangely unfamiliar. I slowly sat up, my bones cracking horribly while doing so and looked around. Some old, wooden boxes, a saw on the wall.. _great. I am in the stash. So, I just need to find out why I am in here, and how I did get in here, I certainly can't remember going in here. All I remember was that I found Ninas and Sergay's corpses in that horrible dungeon.. a loud smashing sound, these voices and... it was still kind of foggy, I had a picture in my head.. it was a little, brown object, but still so blurred.. god, I feel as if I had drunk to much, my head is killing me.._

I reached up to my forehead and rubbed it, trying to get some of the pain away, and then weaved a hand through my hair - that's when I noticed something wet sticking to my fingers. I pulled my hand away and looked at it.. _HOLY SHIT! I AM BLEEDING!_ My hand was covered in crimson, apparently like my head, I must have gotten a wound somehow.. _did I fall and trip so badly? What happened? I don't remember anything after I touched the idol ...wait.. the idol!_ That was the picture in my head! It was clear now, I could see the hideous little figurine.

"Oh fuck.. I have got to find the others and tell them about it!" I said to myself and stoop up - albeit a bit to fast as my vision flashed white and black and I had to put a hand on my forehead again to make it fade away slowly. I squinted my eyes and reached for the doorknob and turned. Locked. I reached for my tie only to find none. _Someone must have taken it away.. but why? Why would they take my tie?_ I knocked harshly against the door.

"Hello? Is someone out there? I'm locked in here!" I shouted, hoping maybe Haruka or Mikoto would hear me, or Aoi.

"Shut up Kruger." Aoi's voice, thank god, nothing happened to her.

"Oi, Aoi, let me out! I need to tell you all something! Get Haruka and Mikoto and let me out of here!"

"Forget it, you're going nowhere. I'm waiting for someone to get us out of here and then I'll hand you to the police."

_Police? Why suddenly..?_ "What are you talking about? C'mon, let me out! It is important!"

"Shut up! What could be more important than keeping a killer locked up! Now be quiet!" she yelled. I was stunned and stared dumbfounded at the door.

_A killer? She believes I am a killer? Why? What did I do!_ I asked myself in my mind, I was frustrated.. _what did I do that I do not remember? What happened? And goddamnit why the hell am I bleeding!_ "Aoi! Let me out, I need bandages, I am bleeding for fucks sake! Please!" I pleaded and knocked rapidly at the door. My head was aching so terribly..

"Boo-ho, deal with it! You killed Haruka, and now you're whining because you're bleeding a bit? Seriously?" She screamed, her voice breaking while doing so.

I was taken back, and my eyes widened. _I.. I killed.._ flashbacks of said thing happening entered my mind.

Me getting the machete, an old leather apron and a welding mask, putting said items on. I remembered me searching for all of them, slowly sneaking around in the house until I found Aoi and Mikoto. What happened next was a bit fuzzy, I pressed my palm against my face, trying desperately to remember while I was sweating and squinting my eyes shut. The picture in my head cleared a bit, I could see myself running up to both, swinging the machete at them, trying to hit them. It was as if I was watching it happen from another point of view, not through my own eyes. I could hear theirs screams, theirs pleading to stop that madness, and my pulse quickened as I watched myself in my memory.

Then my wound on my head began to pulsate and I winced. I watched as Haruka stormed out of one door, I cannot point out which one but that didn't matter at the moment and tackled me with all her might to the floor,trying desperatly to get the machete from my hands, all the while yelling at me and asking what the hell was happening. _If I only knew, Haruka.. if I only knew!_ I heard some gasps and turned to them, Aoi and Mikoto stood there, frozen in fear, both pair of eyes wide. They all knew now, that it was me - the mask had been ripped off of my face as I fell to the floor with Haruka on top of me. She struggled to keep me down and headbutted me. _God, that looked like it hurt_ - I was still seeing everything from afar, as if I had not been under her, and was watching the fight.  
I watched in horror as I managed to kick Haruka from underneath, throwing her away from me, and hurridly stood up searching for the machete which she had managed to pry from my hands and threw away. I stared at myself as I was nearly desperately trying to find said item and as I spotted it dashed to it. Haruka was still lying on the floor and trying to get up - I must've kicked her pretty hard for such a fighter to have such problems.. I grabbed the machete and turned to face her again, she looked up, her eyes wide in fear and disbelieve. I looked at myself, my mouth hanging open as I saw my bloodthirsty grin and my own emerald eyes, hazed over with anger and pain. I looked around the room, trying to catch a glimpse of Aoi and Mikoto - both were out of sight, they must have been running for their lives by now.  
Then my vision blurred and I suddenly was face to face with Haruka - I saw all through my own eyes again, but I wish I wouldn't. I watched as she grimaced and stared at me, her gaze full of confusion, anger.. and pain. I had slashed her left arm which she had held up to prevent the blade from connecting with her body. And then, as she was already grimacing in pain and screaming, I had stabbed her through the gut. It was a sickening sight and sound. Her blood splattered on the apron, the machete was covered in the same red liquid which was now flowing slowly down on to the tiled floor. I felt my lips giving way to a grin as I watched her limp body falling to the ground. I stood there some more seconds, before falling to my knees in my memory and finally feeling a horrible blow to my head. My vision blurred and I fell face first to the ground.

With a start I snapped back into reality and began to cry as I leaned my head against the wooden door, my fist pounding against it, trying to get some frustration out. I couldn't believe it.. no wonder they kept me locked up..

"Aoi.. please.. It wasn't me.. it wasn't me.. I swear... " I whispered pleadingly, squeezing my eyes shut and hoping I could somehow come up with an explanation. I tried so hard to think of something, but nothing would come. I felt some blood slowly trickling down from my hair and down my temple, running in time with my beating heart farther down until it reached my chin. I reached up and wiped it away and struck once more against the door with the same hand, leaving a little bit of blood on the wooden surface. I thought back at the thing's I rememberd since I had been in that dungeon, I remembered the voices. I suddenly wondered why I wasn't hearing them anymore, but gladly accepted that and wasted no-more thoughts on them. _Okay, so there were those manacles.. Nina and Sergay.. wait, where are their diaries? Wait! Not the point! Don't get distracted, Kruger!_

I slowly sat down, my back against the door and sighed while I pressed my palm against my wound, wincing slightly.

_What was in there.. what was it.. ah! Nina talking about someone behind the kitchen door.. that someone must have been kept in the dungeon.. Sergay ignoring her, when she talked about.. the girl? Yes, yes.. a girl behind the kitchen door.. Nina talking to the girl.. something about blood on the kitchen floor.. and Sergay talking about some horror he had to remove from this world.. did he mean the girl behind the door? Why? Why was that girl even behind the kitchen door, apparently locked up?_

Then something hit me.

Sergay was talking about something he helped creating.. _did he have another child? Did he even remarry after Mai had died? Wait.. why did she even die? God, so many questions.._

I sighed and rubbed my face, my headache was killing me and only slightly fading away, but I still could smell my own blood. _I hate that metallic smell_. _Ugh, I need to get out of here and get someting to bandage my head.. or I ould just rip some cloth from my shirt._ With that thought I sat up and began slightly unbottoning my dress-shirt so that I could move around easier. I ripped my right sleeve completely off, and ripped it some more so I had something slightly resembling a bandage and touched my head again, wincing as I came in contact with my wound. _Well, here it goes._ I put the 'bandage' on my wound, slightly balled up, and began wrapping it around my head as best as I could. I tied a knot and sighed in relieve - at least now I wouldn't have to worry that much about getting it infected.. well, at least not that bad.

"Aoi?" I asked louder, so that she could hear me. _I have some kind of idea as to how I could get out of here.. even if I'd have to lie to you._

"What do you want?" She answered after some minutes of silence. I could understand her, I'd also hesitate to talk with me if I was in her position.

"What did you do to my tie?"

"Well.. that was Mikoto's idea.. she didn't want you to choke yourself with it.. that kid really admired you, you know?" her tone of voice was so soft..

"I know.. I'm sorry Aoi.. but I couldn't help my actions.. I.. I was possessed by the ghost, the same one which keeps us all imprisoned. I hear it talking to me, telling me to kill everyone, like I did with Antsy and Haruka.."

"What are you talking about, Kruger?"

I leaned my head against the door once again and sighed. _I hate to lie to her, but I just have to, to get out of here, since I can't think of something else.._ "It keeps talking to me, I can't stop it. 'Kill Antsy, kill Aoi, kill them all.' It just keeps talking to me, even now I can hear it's voice." _Well.. I kept hearing voices.. so it's not a complete lie, is it?_

"Kruger, stop talking such nonsense."

" I don't remember anymore when it started, but I just have these blackouts, I wake up in unfamiliar places.. I don't remember where I am or why I am here.." _Hm. Well, I certainly did have one huge blackout which is the reason I am in here and lying to Aoi.._ "..and I just keep seeing their faces flashing before my eyes when I close them, I can hear theirs screams.. their faces, twisted in pain.. " Haruka's face flashed before my eyes, twisted in pain as those words left my mouth.

"Shut up, Kruger!"

"I wake up in the morning, feeling dizzy, sometimes covered in blood.. I am so ashamed.. I cry and cry, so hard that I get terrible headaches and vomit several times. I am delirious with guilt most of the time.. god.. If it only could stop.." _Just a little bit more, Aoi. I am sorry for lying to you, but it is for all our best._

"Kruger.." Aoi whispered, still I heard it softly.

"Please.. please let me have my tie, Aoi."

"Your tie?"

"Please, Aoi."

"Why?"

"I don't want to see their faces anymore, I don't want all this insanity.. please, give me my tie!" I said as pleadingly as I could. _I am not completely lying, now that I think about it.._

_"..allright."_ Her voice broke as she said that and pushed said item under the door. _I'm sorry, Aoi._ I heard her walking away and crouched down, taking my tie and slipping it over my head before I looked in the lining of it. My lockpicks were still there. _Thank god..._ I took them and started picking the lock to the stash and after some seconds and after some wondering where the hell they found the key to lock it, the door opened and I was free once again. Well, as free as one could be while being imprisoned. I looked up into the sky, which was a bright blue, with some white clouds here and there. The sun was shining brightly, absolutely contrasting the happenings inside this manor. I sighed and then remembered the Idol. _FUCK! They mustn't touch it! I have to tell them about that!_

I ran to the door which led inside, opened it and froze in the doorway, half inside.

Haruka was still lying there, in the middle of the kitchen. _Oh god... _I felt tears welling up in my eyes, but managed to hold them back. I closed my eyes, breathed in and out, smelling once again that sickening metallic stench and carefully stepped inside, closing the backdoor behind me. I looked at her limp body and noticed that her eyes were still opened, her once deep purple eyes now fogged over and dull. I stepped closer to her, crouched down and while mentally praying for her, closed her eyes. I couldn't help the tears falling down now and mixing with her blood, which was covering the kitchenfloor.

I stood up after taking one last glance at her and trotted to the door leading to the dining hall. Upon entering, I noticed the plans still lying on the table, she apparently heard them screaming bloody murder and just stormed out there, not bothering everything else.. _I am sorry, Haruka.._  
Then I looked at the portrait of.. of a skeleton in a blood-stained, victorian safari suit. _OKAY! That is definetly different! That absolutely hadn't been a skeleton yesterday and the days before!_ Now I was freaking out. I hurridly left the room and searched for Mikoto and Aoi - I still needed to tell them about the idol. 

The Idol. 

_I better look if it is still in the trophy room._

I ran through the hallway and the other rooms which kept me from knowing, if that cursed Idol still lay there. I prayed that it still was there, then I at least wouldn't have to worry about either Aoi or Mikoto finding it and risking, to become somehow possessed. I opened the door and looked around in the room, trying desperately to find the figurine. It wasn't there anymore. It neither lay inbetween those shards, nor was it anywhere else in the room. Hell, I even looked as best as I could in the fireplace, but I didn'T recognize anything resembling it in the fire. 

_Curses._

_Shit, shit, shit! Okay.. calm down.. there just is someone running around here who had touched the idol, and if it is anything like before, that person now would like to kill everyone in the house. Absolutely no need to worry, Kruger._ I rushed upstairs and entered the bathroom, I had to wash my face to keep myself from panicking completely. I was panting slightly, not because I had been running, but because I was really freaking out now. I was leaning against the sink, staring at myself in the mirror and at those emerald-eyes mirrored in it and sighed. _God.. I just hope they are okay.._ I stepped to the window, looking outside into the landscape. The sun hung low, tinting everything a lovely orange. It was a lovely picture and I stared at it. Then the door opened with a loud thud. It had smashed against the wall behind it. I turned around, fists ready to hit whomever entered, when I heard her voice.

"Kruger!" She ran up to me and leaned on her knees, panting heavily. She must have been running up here..

"Aoi! Are you okay? Where's Mikoto? I need to tell you something!" I frantically asked her and gripped her arms, making her look me in the eyes.

"Yes, I am okay, but not for long! I saw it again!" She was talking so fast, I had to strain myself to hear her. I loosened my grip on her arms and stared at her.

"What did you see? Do you mean the ghost?"

"Shut up about your ghost! I know you were lying just to get me to give you your damn tie! I saw the figure in the welding mask again!"

"What? Where?" My mouth became dry and I believe my hands began shaking somewhat. The thought alone of that monster or ghost or whatever it was made me sick.

"Downstairs! Don't worry, it didn't see me! I saw you running in here and followed you!"

"Listen Aoi , about the ghost - "

"Forget your stupid ghost! IT IS A REGULAR BLOOD AND FLESH PSYCHO!" As those words left her mouth, the door opened again and said 'psycho' entered, wearing the same outfit I wore after I had touched the idol.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! DO SOMETHING KRUGER! DO SOMETHING!" Aoi screamed and ran to the window, hiding behind me. I frantically looked around while the figure stepped closer, breathing hard. I could hear Aoi's labored breathing next to my own, and I shivered. My hands shook, my heart was beating painfully against my chest once again and rythmically my wound began to itch. I looked behind me fast, Aoi was holding her hands up to her mouth, her eyes wide in fear and I could see some of her brown hair sticking to her forehead which was completely drained of colour like her whole face. I tried to come up with something, when I saw the figure stepping on the little, red rug which lay on the tiles. I acted instantly, crouched down and pulled with all my might. The figure fell, and it's head hit the ground with a loud thud - and upon landing the mask slipped off the person's face.

I stared in shock at it.

"Oh my god.. Mikoto?" Aoi whispered, her voice so soft, that I nearly missed it.

* * *

Well, the chapters keep getting shorter, just like the days are getting shorter but in my opinion less boring.

And yes, the next chapter will be Day5 and also the last chapter in this Fiction. But don't worry, I'll be writing sequels.


	5. Chapter 5

Well, there goes nothing! Fifth and last chapter for this piece. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do neither own Mai HiME/Otome nor do I own Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaws Chzo Mythos Series.

* * *

Day 5 - Burn baby, burn!

* * *

Aoi and I entered Nina's bedroom, where now Mikoto sat on the bed, her back facing the door, so she didn't immediatly notice us entering. She was staring across the room and out the window. I put my hand on Aoi's shoulder as we looked at each other, silently asking who should talk to her first. I nodded my head, indicating that she should be the first of us, because I just believe she'd do better than me. I am not that good at comforting people, especially if I hardly know them and just met them some days ago. Aoi sighed softly and stepped closer to the bed.

"Mikoto?" she said low, as not to scare Mikoto.

Mikoto turned her head to the side, so that she could look at Aoi and me. She tried to smile, but it didn't look like the smiles she showed us before this incident. This one was somehow forced and seemed pained. She turned on her spot, so that she could fully face us, and I looked in her eyes. They held so much confusion..

"Hey there Ms. Senoh, Ms. Kruger." she whispered, her voice just slightly quivering. Her eyes lit up a bit when her gaze fell on me, and it made me smile softly. Aoi put her arms around Mikoto and just embraced her, trying to comfort her somehow, while I just stepped closer as well and watched them both. I never was one for hugs.  
After a while Aoi released her from the hug and started talking.

"Mikoto, how are you feeling? Does your head still hurt?"

"Yeah.. it hurts a bit and I feel somewhat woozy.." she said and looked at me. Why? I did not know, but I believe that meant, that she wanted me to say something. At least I could imagine that.

"As long as you don't have a concussion now because of that fall.. which I am sorry for, by the way.. but I just couldn't come up with something else in time, Mikoto." I said, and as she heard my voice, she smiled relieved and nodded.

"Don't worry about that, Ms Kruger.. I can understand that. I didn't quite come up with a good idea myself when I knocked you over the head with the lamp yesterday.. I'm sorry." _Huh, so that's where I got that goddamn wound from.. well, I can understand her. I would've done the same.. well, I already did somehow.. albeit I didn't smash a freaking lamp at her head._

"..huh. I was wondering where the hell I got that wound from. But just forget about it, you did that to protect Aoi and yourself." she smiled thankfully at me and spoke again.

"Allright.. uhm.. Ms. Senoh? Ms. Kruger? Did.. did I really try to ki.. attack you?" she spoke hesitantly, nearly slipping with her words. Aoi and I both looked at her and then at each other. I nodded at Aoi.

"No.. you didn't. But.. somehow.. something did through you. At least Ms. Kruger thinks so.." Mikoto was silent and just sighed. "Mikoto, can you tell us what happened after I told you to go back in the house while I was keeping guard?"

At that, she flinched and started to fidget nervously. I noticed also that her hands began shaking slightly and I smiled reassuringly at her, trying to ease her mind at least a bit.

"..well. After you told me that I should go back in, I started to hear some whispering. I.. hadn't thought much about it, so I tried to ignore it and just went in the lounge to watch some TV to pass the time somewhat. But before I even turned it on, I heard once again some talking. So, I just kind of followed the voices and they led me into the trophy room, but I didn't find anyone in there and it just confused me. And then I spotted a little wooden figurine on the floor and around it some shards. And then I heard the talking again, louder this time and it told me to pick the figurine up and so I just did. But I don't remember much after that, just that I had been searching for both of you.." She said, all the while fidgeting around and glancing nervously around, never keeping much eye-contact with either of us.

"Oh.. er.. Ms. Kruger?"

"Yes, Mikoto..?"

"Uhm.. I still had the apron, the mask and the machete when I woke up.. I.. put them in the closet right there.. I.. tought you might want to know. Could you maybe put them somewhere else? They.. I feel uncomfortable with them around.." She admitted softly. _You and me both, Mikoto. I as well feel uncomfortable with them around.._

"Allright, don't worry, I'll put them somewhere else. Aoi? Could you help me?"

"Sure. And Mikoto, don't worry too much about it all.. we'll get out of here so just don't worry." Aoi spoke, her voice also quivering. It all seemed to get to her now. _She is certainly strong in that aspect. Most people I know would've already freaked out completely._  
Aoi smiled nervously and stood up, looking at me and then at the closet. I nodded and then I opened it, looking at the bloodstained apron, the old welding mask with some stains which I cannot identify - which maybe is good - and the machete. It still was absolutely covered in blood, and some even dripped down to the bottom of the closet and formed a small puddle. I tried not to breathe in it's metallic smell, and pulled the items out of the closet, handed Aoi the apron while I took the mask and the machete.

"Well, we'll be going then, Mikoto.. you just rest some more. We'll handle this." I said and smiled at her, while Aoi also just smiled and went to open the door, holding it open for me. I went through the door and she closed it behind us. I told her that we'd best put the things downstairs in the trophy room, since hardly anyone enters that room anyway. Also, I wanted to see where the hell that Idol has gone, although I already looked for it in there. _Ugh, I forgot to ask Mikoto where the Idol is now. Well, I'll just have to go back up to her later._  
While we went to put them away, Aoi sighed many times and then finally decided to talk to me.

"Look, I just.. sort of.. half believe your ghost-theory now. I can't think of some other reason why Mikoto would've gone berserk after she touched that Idol. Which reminds me.. where is that Idol?"

"Well, firstly I do not know either where that hideous figurine is, I'd have to ask Mikoto about that again, maybe she knows where she put it when she was.. err.. possessed. I know, it sounds just ridiculous, but tell me, what other option is there? I touched the idol and didn't remember anything after that until you told me that I.. " I didn't want to say it. It seemed as if I avoided saying it, it maybe wasn't real.. even tough I knew better.

"I understand.. but seriously? A ghost? That just sounds so incredulous!" She shook her head to get her point across. "I guess I'm accepting that explanation for now. "

"I know.. I don't really want to believe it either, it's just.. there is no other explanation, especially after this incident. I mean, what other thing could've caused both, me and Mikoto to kind of go on a killing spree and black out just by touching some wooden idol?"

"I know Kruger, I know. By the way I have been going over some text on the occult and over those books you had been carryiing around when you were.. out cold. And you know, those things I read really made me sort of believe your ghost story. Also, if we want to destroy this.. thing, we apparently have to get it's spirit back in it's old body, so that will make it quasi-mortal. It still will be dangerous, but it will not be unkillable."

"And for that, we need to know who the spirit or ghost or whatever you want to call it is. So.. any ideas?"

"Need me to do all the thinking?"

"Hey, I'm just asking, sorry."

"Very well. But yes, I do have an idea. You certainly remember what you've read in the diaries?" I nodded. "Then you also read that Nina was either absolutely insane and talking to a wall.. or door, or she had a sister, after all she keeps talking about a girl behind the kitchen door."

"Yes.. and I believe there really was someone behind the kitchen door.. you've probably seen that hole in the wall I made? I had found a gruesome dungeon behind the wall, including iron manacles on the far wall. I believe, someone was kept down there."

"Oh my god.. please, I don't want to even know about that Kruger."

"Sorry. Anyhow, go on with your theory, please."

"Right, well.. I read in Sergay's diary something about him unleashing a fresh hell which killed his wife, and he certainly didn't mean Nina. So I looked around in the house and found her Death certificate along with some documents about Nina. Apparently, his wife died while giving birth.. but she died 20minutes after Nina was already out."

"Really? Now that is interesting.. so.. your theory is something along the lines of them having more than one child, which apparently killed Mai in the process of giving birth?"

"Yes, I believe she gave birth to twins, and her second child did her in. That would explain why Sergay believed, that this child was somehow bad and kept it down.. there. Imagine that.. growing up in a filthy grotto like an animal, given no education.. no love.. that poor child must have been completely insane and, excuse me for using this word, retarded."

"That would indicate, that she couldn't even quite tell the difference between one person and another, which would explain why her ghost believes that everyone who enters is Sergay, trying to torment her some more and prevents that by killing them."

"But what happened on that day fifteen years after Mai's death, when both Nina and Sergay just dissapeared?"

"Well, you found their corpses in the basement, so they were obviously murdered."  
We had reached the trophy room by now, and I put the machete in the corner near the door, along with the mask and the apron. Aoi and I looked around in the room, trying to get a glimpse of that Idol while we continued talking.

"..duh. The question is, how and why? And I believe, I even have an answer to those."

"Well, spill the beans, Ms. Kruger."

"I believe Sergay went mad on the fifteenth anniversary of his wife's death, and tried to kill the child who he believed did all that. Maybe he was even drunk, that would've certainly put him in a depression and along with the grief it just must've made him snap."

"Yeah, so he went down in the basement, his heart filled with grief and his mind clouded thanks to the alcohol and just beat the poor kid to death.."

"Well, half to death. Nina found the body and tried to bandage her up afterwards. She does write about her hoping to help them become a happy family again, or something like that."

"So she bandaged the kid up, who then lived long enough to get a machete, the mask and the apron and kill both of them?"

"Yes, then she must've just died from her wounds."

"...jesus. And we are going to try and destroy her ghost? It wasn't her own fault, none of what happened had been!"

"..what little mind she had is no more, all she is now is hate. If we don't act soon, she'll kill us all, there's just no reasoning with her!"

She sighed. "..I suppose you're right. God, it's sad, really.. so.. what will we do now, Kruger..?"

"Well, we are going to find her body - I already know how to do that. Then, we are going to figure out how the hell we are going to bring her soul back into it and then we are going to destroy her."

"Okay. We'll do that.. so.. how are we going to find her body?"

"I'll show you." With that, I went back in the corner where we just put the ghosts things and picked up the machete, handing it to Aoi to hold for now. She just stared curiously at me and let me continue. Then I tore off a piece of the leather apron and tied it around the machete somehow. And last but not least, I tied the welding mask onto that strip of leather. Aoi just stared at the creation and then at me, one eyebrow raised.

"Now, we dip that in salt and wave it over the place where she had been sleeping, and then it should indicate to where the hell her body is. It worked with Nina's body, so.. we at least have to try." I said to her with a little smile. It certainly does sound absolutely ridiculous, but hey.. it worked once, so it should work twice, right?

We trotted into the kitchen, where we saw Haruka still lying. I swallowed, my throat had suddenly become dry and I remembered what had happened again. Aoi seemed to have somewhat the same reaction, she had gone rather pale and tried not to look at Haruka's limp body when she handed me the machete and I dipped the mask in the salt.

"So.. I believe I'll be climbing through the hole and waving this.. thing over the manacles?" Aoi just nodded. I could understand her, I also didn't want to go back down there. But one of us had to do it, and I didn't want to stress Aoi too much, her nerves won't withstand much more of this madness. Well, my nerves are going through with me as well, but someone has to sacrifice themselve, so why not me, I had my hands already tainted..

With those thoughts, I handed Aoi the machete once more while I squeezed myself through the hole and stared some seconds into the darkness. My eyes needed their time to adjust to the darkness in there. Aoi looked through the hole and her eyes widened when she saw the dungeon. She hurridly looked away again and held the machete out to me. I took it and smiled reassuringly at her and went down the dirty stairs.

Each step I took seemed to echo in the dungeon, and hurled up some dust. The air down here still was thick and I tried not to breathe as much, just to prevent this stench to enter my nostrils. My feet dragged along the dungeonfloor and as I was near the manacles I once more spotted those angry crimson stains on the metal. I swallowed and hesitantly waved the machete over the manacles, and as I looked at it again, it seemed to work and indicate firstly upwards.

That was all I needed and hurridly went up the stairs and handed Aoi the machete so that I could squeeze myself through the hole once again and hopefully for the last time. That dungeon gives me the creeps.

Aoi looked at the mask as well, and she seemed to have understood how it worked. So I let her continue doing just that - looking at the mask and telling me then, where it pointed to. We wandered around some minutes, and as we were now upstairs in the hallway, it seemed to be indicating to the bathroom. I thought it didn't work anymore, because I just couldn't imagine that, but we looked anyway. I opened the door for Aoi and let her through before I stepped inside myself and closed it.

"So.. where does it point to?"

"Uhm.. I think it points somewhere near the sink."

"..you think it points there?"

"Allright, it points somewhere near the sink. Happy now?"

"Not really, but nevermind. Aoi? Could you untie the mask from the machete?"

"Huh? Why?"

"..well, I can't really pry the tiles away with my bare hands, or can you? And I really don't think the body would be above us in the ceiling somewhere."

"Oh, sorry. I think all of this is finally getting to me.." She said sheepishly and smiled softly, while untiing the mask from the machete and handing me said object. I stepped to the point where it had been pointing to, with some adjustment from Aoi and tried prying some of them away.  
After some minutes and with the help of Aoi, we removed some of the tiles and stared at a hole, in which lay some bones and a skull.

"..I believe it worked. So.. this must be Nina's sister." I said while I gave Aoi the machete once more. She looked at me.

"What? We still need this?" she asked.

"Well, do you want to leave them here in the bathroom? Also, we know who the ghost is, we now have her body, so who knows what the hell we are going to need next for her soul to get back into her body, so that we can destroy her and get the hell out of this creepy house." I said and crouched down, picking up her bones which were oddly shaped.

"Oi Aoi, look at her bones.. they are somewhat oddly shaped, don't you think?" She stepped closer to me and looked at some of them and after some seconds she nodded.

"Yes.. they do seem somewhat odd. Well.. apparently she must've been born deformed.." I nodded slightly and sighed.

"Well.. let's get her body down in the trophy room, there's enough space for her." Said and done, we went back down into the trophy room and I arranged her bones so that they formed a part of her body. The upper part - there weren't more bones in the hole, so I guess those must be the only ones left. Then I took the machete and the mask from Aoi and put it back in the corner to the apron and told Aoi to go look in the library for some magic book. We needed to somehow get her spirit back in the body, so why not look in a book? Those were certainly helpful when searching the bodies.

I stayed down in the trophy room, waiting for Aoi to come back with something and once again looked at the photos on the wall by the fireplace. _Odd.. they are staying as they were the first day, but the portrait in the dining hall changed with the days.. is it just because that was a painting, and not just a photograph? Well.. nevermind, I've got more important things to think about, for example where the hell that goddamn Idol could be.  
_

I turned around to gaze at the lionhead on the wall, when I noticed that the Idol was standing again on it's place on the little coffee table. I blinked and then rubbed my eyes, thinking that maybe I am just seeing things now. _Gosh, I must've lost too much blood thanks to that wound on my head. I honestly just thought I saw that idol there._ I slightly snickered and looked again at the table to see for myself, that I just had been imagening it, but I hadn't. There it stood, it's ugly little face staring across the room, as if nothing had ever happened with it.  
I would've touched it, just to know if it really was there or not, but.. well, that wouldn't have been such a good idea now, would it? If it was real, then maybe I'd black out again.. and I do absolutely not want that!

I shook my head and pressed my palm against my face - and at that moment Aoi chose to enter the room, carrying a fairly thick book with a black cover. She panted slightly and gave me a look that just screamed _'Well? Do you want to help me or do you want my arms to fall off?'_ I swallowed and hurridly took the book from her - and hell, it really was heavy, must've been that black leather cover and that quite beautiful metal-decoration on top of it all, in the shape of a pentagram.

"Wow, that really is heavy.. and that was the only book on.." I looked at the cover again and spotted some white writing, the style of that book certainly was somewhat uncommon and seemed to just literally come out from a horror movie, but albeit all that, it still was a beautiful book, and well kept. "..on black magic? Okay.. so we are going to use black magic to..?"

"We are going to use black magic to get the soul back in its body. I had read something about that in it. Here, let me show you." With that she opened the book while I still carried it and after clearing her throat she began to read out loud.

"Summoning angry spirits to their bodies: Murderous wraiths are nigh-indestructible when they can hop from body to body, but tying them down to their old bodies returns them to partial mortality, a state in which they can be destroyed. Simply place the spirit's original body in a place of fire and death, return it its old clothes and then read aloud the following passage, ommiting nothing. WARNING: The summoning of a wraith will often bring forth other unquiet spirits, who will haunt those who hold their possessions." She closed the book again, and took the book from me, and put it on the floor. Apparently, she couldn't have done that before and spared my arms with that. Oh well.

"So.. a place of fire and death would equal the trophy room.. heh. As if I had known that." I said out loud and gestured at the body which lay on the floor. "And returning its old clothes is also quite simple, since we already have the apron and the mask. Uhm.. does she need the machete as well? I'd feel a lot more comfortable if she wouldn't."

"Well, I think there's something about returning it's weapon in the passage which must be read out loud.. so I believe we better give her the machete as well.. even though I don't think that is a good idea.. but we have no other choice, have we Kruger?"

I sighed. _Well, either give an angry wraith a weapon and try getting killed by trying to destroy it, or be stuck in this house forever and maybe die because maybe someone else would touch the goddamn idol. I believe, we better try option number one.._

"Ugh. I absolutely hate that idea. Why did she have to get a machete.. oh well.. Aoi? could you hand me her 'clothes'?"  
Aoi nodded and handed me the mask, the apron and the machete one after the other while I put them on the body. Now, we had a half skeleton lying on the floor, with a welding mask leaned on it's skull, an apron covering the rest of the bones except the arms which somewhat held onto the machete.

"..well. That looks just.. terrifying. Somehow." I said softly and stared at the thing. Aoi nodded her head and slowly put her hand on my shoulder. I felt her ice cold hands on my naked skin - she put it on my right shoulder, where I ripped off the sleeve to bandage my head. I turned my head to look at her and sighed before I turned to fully face her.

"Aoi, you wait here. I am going to get Mikoto and look for some possessions of Nina and Sergay. I believe their spirits would be the ones, which could also appear, and I want to be prepared for that. You can read in that magic book again and see if we missed anything, if you would, please." I said to her, and as she nodded I left the room and went upstairs again to Nina's room. I knocked softly on the door before opening it and entering.

"Oi Mikoto. Feeling somewhat better?"

"Somewhat, yes.. do you need anything Ms. Kruger?"

"Well, could you go down to the trophy room? Aoi is waiting there, we have a plan how to deal with the ghost which possessed you and me. And I believe we need you for that. Oh and before I forget it.. did you by chance see a little teddybear somewhere?" _It had been Nina's, that much is clear otherwise it wouldn't have led me to her body. I just need to find it once again... sadly I do not know anymore where I put it after finding the body. Ugh, I need to remember such things._

"Uhm.. I don't know, sorry."

"Damnit." I sighed and waved it off. "Nevermind. Could you just please go down into the trophy room? I believe Aoi could tell you our plan exactly." Mikoto nodded and left the room to go where I wanted her to. I sighed once again as I loked around in Nina's room, trying to find maybe something else which could be easily carried around._ I am absolutely not going to carry her easel down into the trophy room! But I wonder.. would the diaries work? But what do I do if they don't work? God, why dies it have to be a goddamn murderous spirit._

I left the room when I couldn't find anything, that kid sure didn't have much stuff, and went to Sergay's room. I still need something from him besides his diary.. which maybe Aoi is carrying around. I looked in the closet - nothing besides clothes, which could have been from anyone! I looked in the nightstands, finding nothing, simply nothing. Not even under the bed had been anything which may could have been from Sergay. I certainly was unlucky this time.

Sighing, I also left this room and trotted downstairs, ignoring the hallway completely since there just isn't anything of interest. I entered the dining room, and my gaze fell once again on the portrait. Or.. well.. what once had been a portrait. Now it was just a frame with a completely grey background. Nothing else.. but the plaquette still read 'Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe'. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine as I gazed at that.. er.. picture. I swallowed and trotted across the room to the kitchen door. My hand hovered over the knob.  
_Haruka is still lying there.. I.. I don't want to see her body lying there.. I.. oh god, I just have to go in there and try not to look at it. I need to find the goddamn teddybear and maybe something else for Sergay. Okay.. Kruger. Breathe in and out and calm the fuck down._

I put my hand on the knob, not feeling it's cold metal, because my hands were as cold as ice and horribly pale. Haruka's face flashed before my eyes again, and I witnessed her eyes loose their shine once again in my mind. _What is this house doing to me..?_ I asked myself and closed my eyes while I opened the door and stepped inside, instantly trying to block out the metallic stench that still lingered in the kitchen. I carefully stepped around her body and to the hole in the wall, looking through it into the darkness once again. The somewhat rotten stench which came out of the hole mixed with the metallic one that was present in the kitchen and created some sort of undescribable smell. I had to keep myself from vomiting right then and there, it was just utterly horrible.

I squeezed myself throug hthe hole for the third time and once again stepped down the stairs, all the while trying to see something in the darkness. My eyes hadn't adjusted just yet, so I didn't see that much. I carefully walked around in the dungeon and stared at the floor to see if there was anything even resembling a teddybear. I took another step and jumped in the air as I stepped on something soft. _Holy hell.. that scared me._ My heart had also skipped some beats at that action, hell.. I just didn't expect to step on something down here. I crouched down and picked the thing up - it was the teddybear. _..I guess I have just forgotten it when I had been successfull with my search for Nina and Sergay. Well.. at least I can get the hell out of here now and continue my search for something in Sergays possession._

With that thought, I just did that - I climed back through the hole and into the kitchen, still trying not to look at Haruka in that sea of red. That damn stench entered my nostrils again, that mixed stench, and I just hurried out of there and into the backyard, just because it was the nearest door. And because I needed some fresh air.

I immediately breathed in the fresh, cool air. It was late in the afternoon by now and I gazed up into the sky which was painted in a lovely purple and orange hue. It really was beautiful, but I couldn't waste my time like that. I spent some more seconds looking at the sky and then as I wanted to take a step forward to continue my search, the door behind me opened. As I turned around, I spotted bright yellow eyes.

"Mikoto?"

"Ah, there you are! Aoi told me to find you so I was looking all around the house and when I didn't find you I told her and then she said that maybe you are in the hole in the wall in the kitchen and I looked in there, but I didn't climb through that hole because it is sca-"

"Hold on Mikoto, breathe! And talk slower, I really have a hard time understanding you." I said as I put my hand on her shoulder to get her to calm down. She breathed some seconds and then smiled, not forced like she did back in Nina's room.

"Sorry, I am just excited.. Aoi said that we maybe get out of here soon.. and I just don't like this place anymore Ms. Kruger.. well.. I never really did like it, but.. you get what I mean." She smiled sheepishly and I just shook my head while smiling. "Well.. Aoi told me to find you, because she said that she found something which had been from Sergay and she thought that you might have found something from Nina by now.. so.. er.. back to the trophy room?"

"Back to the trophy room, Mikoto. And calm down a bit. I know, that's easily said.. I am also excited and scared. You know what could happen, if the plan doesn't work?" She nodded and the smile left her face. "Good.. so.. let' sgo back to Aoi."

With that, we both entered the kitchen again, and Mikoto pulled me hurridly to the dining room, while mumbling that she didn't want to look at the mess in the kitchen. I could understand her. She nearly ran through the dining hall and the hallway and the following rooms to the trophy room, all the while pulling me by the wrist with her. I nearly tripped in the process which earned her a halfhearted glare and earned me a little apology. I just waved it off and as we entered the trophy room, I saw Aoi standing on the right side of the fireplace, holding up the old rifle which before hung over the fireplace. _Wow. I hadn't thought about THAT.. thank god I have Aoi here._

"Ah, there you are!" She said and pointed the rifle at us by accident. As Mikoto jumped behind me and hid she noticed that and smiled embarressed while she pointed the gun instead at the floor. "Sorry about that. Anyway.. have you found something from Nina?"

I held the teddybear out in front of me and smiled softly. "Yup. With that I found her body, so it has to belong to her. Also, we could as well use the diaries - they also are a possession of each, Nina and Sergay.. but just in case, I thought it would be better if we also had something else."  
Aoi nodded and put the rifle down on the floor for the time being, and pulled two diaries out of nowhere instead, handing me the one for Nina and keeping Sergay's for now. Then she put the diary back in her pocket and picked up the rifle again.

"So, we have all the things we need.. er.. Mikoto? Could you stand here and hold onto the diary and the teddybear for me?" I pointed at the left side of the fireplace and handed her the items. She just nodded and held onto them while watching my further actions, just like Aoi watched me.

I picked up the heavy black magic book and opened it, searching for the page about angry wraiths. Someone needed to read those passages out lout, and since Aoi apparently decided to play Sergay for now, and Mikoto plays Nina, I guess I have to read that magic gobbeldygook.

As I found the page, I glanced up at both again. "Found it. So.. are you ready to do this?" When both nodded I stepped near the coffeetable where the Idol stood and mentally prepared myself for the things that could happen now. Aoi had her eyes closed and also seemed to concentrate on her task, while Mikoto heaved deep breaths, trying to calm down. It is after all not an everyday task, to summon a murderous wraith, put it back in it's old body and then destroy it. Or at least try to.

I cleared my throat and omitted to nothing, before reading the passages.

"Here goes nothing. In this hall of death, and by the light of Prometheus' gift, I call thee." The bones of the body began to move slightly, as if shivering or flinching. The fire which was burning in the fireplace behind the body, gave it an almost unholy gleam and its flickering let the scene occur even more bizarre than it already was. Mikoto stood there, half frozen, and stared at the bones, while Aoi tightened her grip on the rifle and swallowed audibly.

"I bring thee gifts that may tempt thee back. I bring thee thy helm, that thy would be masked.. I bring thee thy armour, that thy would be clothed.. and I bring thee thy sword, that thy would be armed." I paused, preparing myself once again mentally for what may come.

"Come."  
And the bones flinched and moved again, this time even more. They moved against each other, rattleing and creating horrible shadows on the walls. One could also hear the sound of metal clashing against the bones. I shivered as I watched the body closely, feeling the unholy magic take place. My hearbeat increased and my palms became sweaty. I swallowed.

"Come." I said again and the bones once more moved and clashed against each other, against the machete and against the mask. Mikoto clutched at the teddybear with all her might and held it in front of her while she stared wide eyed at the moving bones. Aoi squeezed her eyes shut again and began panting, her knuckles turned white as she gripped the rifle even harder. Her face was deathly pale and I believe I even saw the rifle shaking slightly.

I pronounced it once more. "Come..."

..and the bones clashed harshly against each other before slowly raising from the floor and floating. I stared in horror at the now floating body, it's skull masked with the welding mask, it's body covered with the apron and in it's clutches the machete, ready to stab someone. I stared at the splotches of blood on the apron and on the machete, which shined in the flickering light. The shadow it created on the wall looked terrifying, but not nearly as terrifying as the real wraith.

Mikoto screamed wide-eyed as the body began to float. "JESUS CHRIST!" Her voice had gone up some octaves and she nearly crushed the teddybear and the diary in her hands, her knuckles turned ghostly pale as she stood there, frozen with fear.

Aoi's eyes were so large, that I honestly thought they could just roll out from their sockets, her eyebrows were raised so high that they nearly touched her hairline. Her mouth also hung open and she shivered horribly while asking with a shaky voice, "Kruger, what now? Kru - ugh.."

I glanced at her and watched, as she stopped shivering and her eyes narrowed to thin slits, her eyebrows furrowing seemingly in anger. Then she spoke with an unusual deep voice, "Y-you.. YOU! I knew you were evil from the moment you came into this world, demon child. May God forgive me for having a part in your creation!" She nearly screamed the last part.

"Sergay's spirit.. " I whispered. Then I stared at Mikoto as her voice sounded.

"Why.. why did you kill me, sister..? I helped you when you were injured, I bandaged you when our father made his mistake!" Mikoto stood there, her face showing dissapointement and betrayal, while her voice sounded both, hurt and strong. The wraith floated there in the middle of the room, turning everytime when either 'Sergay' or 'Nina' spoke. It hesitated and listened.

"No mistake, you one. Now do you see why I tried to keep you away from this creature? It has no understanding of human ways!"

"You're wrong, father! If you'd have even given her a chance to be nor - "

"CEASE YOUR PRATTLING, NINA! It's time to put an end to the horror I unleashed that very night."

"What are you doing, father?" 'Nina' asked frantically while she and I watched 'Sergay' point the rifle at the wraith and take aim.

"Father, no! Please, no! Father! FATHER!" 'Nina' screamed with all her might, her hands held out to 'him' pleadingly while 'he' pulled the trigger and shot the wraith with an ear splitting bang. I flinched as it sounded, but Mikoto and Aoi did not, both apparently were still possessed by the spirits. I stared at the remains of the wraith as they caught on fire, they fell too close to the fireplace.

"Aoi, Mikoto! Hurry up, get out!" I yelled and snatched the rifle from Aoi's hands, throwing it to the floor and pushing her to the door. She snapped out of the trance she had been in and pulled the door open, holding it open for both, me and Mikoto. I nearly tackled Mikoto and pried the teddy and the diary from her hands and sighed relieved as she shook her head and looked at me confused. I didn't say anything and just pulled her together with Aoi out of the room - the fire had caught on abnormally fast. I ran as fast as I could with both in tow to the front door, and just as we reached it, it burst open, behind us the towering flames, consuming already almost the whole manor.

Mikoto and Aoi ran down the pathway and as they spotted all the police-cars, they ran to the nearest. Both panted heavily and leaned against each other.

"Ms. Senoh!" one officer yelled while running to them, looking for injuries. "What the hell's been going on in there? We've been trying to get in there for hours! But then suddenly the place catches fire, the doors burst open and you two step out of all that goddamn smoke!" he explained.

Mikoto was shocked. "..us two?"

"Where's Kruger?" Aoi asked, her voice laced with terror and fear.

"I thought she was right behind us.. " Mikoto turned around and screamed as loud as she could, "Kruger! KRUGER!" Aoi joined her and began also screaming, both panicked and Mikoto even tried to run back into the house, but the police officer held her back in time.

"OI! Wait a second! Kruger the gentleman thief? The Ice Princess?" he asked puzzled. Aoi turned to him and nodded her head.

"Yes! Get someone in there, she could be in danger! Hurry!" she yelled, her face contorted with fear and panic.

"..maybe the ghost got her." Mikoto whispered sadly and gazed longingly at the burning manor. The police officer just sighed.

"Allright.. I think we'd better get you two down to the station." Aoi opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. "The fire brigade wil lfind her if she's there. In the meantime.. if you'd like to step this way?" He gestured away from the manor and led both into his police car, ready to drive away.

* * *

_Death, of course, comes to us all. It came to Sir Sergay Wang DeFoe and his youngest daughter in the shape of each other.. was destroying the ghost the right thing to do? It was after all acting like any other dumb animal. Oh well.. I guess she and he rfamily will have plenty of time to discuss it, wherever they are now. As for me.._ _well. I have no complaints. I have lived a life many would consider out of the ordinary. And I have only one regret..._

I stepped out of the shadows which had been thrown by a large tree near the hill I had parked my car and gazed at the ablaze manor.

_..leaving Aoi and Mikoto to explain it all to the police. That was hardly gentlemanly conduct for a gentleman thief, but I believe they would understand that rushing out into a field full of police officers wouldn't have been a good idea for me..  
It's going to be a long walk home and I have some important matters to attend to._

I turned away from the manor and wandered off once again into the shadow, thrown by the tree and trotted along a little pathway in direction of my home.

_I have to track down Yamada for one thing and then I have to kick him very, very hard in the balls..  


* * *

_

So, it is finished. I hope you enjoyed it. And don't worry, there will be more of this madness.

The Next will be 7Days a Skeptic - we'll see when I decide to start writing that.


End file.
